It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 The request is on a desk at Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valeri Bozhikov, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 May 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Yordan Stoyanov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Septemvri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
André Liberal 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.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Dimitar Chelebiev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikola Genchev signs something — a contract at Septemvri or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Septemvri is running low.
André Liberal 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.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bistra Yankov 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.
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 Nikola Serafimov is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivo Dyakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Septemvri will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
76 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Yordan Stoyanov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
André Liberal 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.
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 Nikolay Prandzhev is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Septemvri would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Mladenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
André Liberal 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.
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 Kubrat Onasci is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Deyan Despodov
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bojidar Bojinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mihail Bodurov has his answer from Septemvri; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
André Liberal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bistra Yankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mihail Bodurov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Septemvri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Septemvri will try not to make too much of it.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bistra Yankov 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nikola Serafimov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Septemvri have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dimitar Chelebiev's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivo Atanasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Septemvri will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Septemvri would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksandar Popov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Septemvri could ask drops and the wages Emil Tunchev can ask rise.
In brief
BoardroomThe Septemvri production line keeps running
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivo Atanasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Ivo Dyakov, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Septemvri would like this to lead.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
André Liberal 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Septemvri will try again when the window opens; Botev Plovdiv may not be selling by then.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Septemvri is running low.
Septemvri and Botev Plovdiv have settled on $920.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
21 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Septemvri close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Botev Plovdiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo thanks: Carlos Meotti rejects the move
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.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Ivo Dyakov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danail Bojinov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Botev Plovdiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivo Bodurov 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kristian Minev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
12 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with Cherno More, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
André Liberal 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.
Septemvri offered $130.0K; Botev Vratsa said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7.63, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Septemvri had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivo Bodurov 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Martim Almeida is in the works
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Septemvri will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Everything agreed with Botev Plovdiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 14 and 16 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
A brace, and André Liberal takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Liberal provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Septemvri and Arda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Septemvri and Ludogorets, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Septemvri can tell you which week it ends in.
André Liberal 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivo Bodurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
Looking aheadSeptemvri take on the side everybody is chasing
André Liberal 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kristian Minev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Botev Plovdiv next, and one man in the Septemvri dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aleksandar Popov did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Levski, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Kristian Minev to a room that had heard them before.
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 mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Ludogorets go through and Septemvri go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
5 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Liberal 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivo Bodurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Septemvri and Cherno More, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
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 3‑4 defeat, delivered by Kristian Minev to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
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.
1‑6 to Botev Vratsa, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, André Liberal on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Septemvri and Botev Vratsa.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kristian Minev after 1‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Ivo Dyakov
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Position 10, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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 Kubrat Onasci is on it.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Septemvri told Mihail Bodurov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
SquadA Septemvri teenager takes the young player award
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aleksandar Popov provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Kristian Minev could afford to be generous.
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.
0‑3 against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lyubomir Vasilev and Septemvri agree another 3 years.
André Liberal 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 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikola Genchev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Nikola Serafimov is on it.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Nikola Genchev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
André Liberal 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikola Genchev 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Montana had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Beroe were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivo Dyakov 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.
1‑4 to Arda, 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikola Genchev did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Septemvri dressing room in a hurry
Player ratingsTodor Kraev beats them one at a time
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
André Liberal 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ivo Bodurov and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
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 Kristian Minev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivo Bodurov 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 mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 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.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Septemvri close the window on a squad of their own making
11 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
André Liberal 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.
In brief
MatchAndré Liberal among the goals in a wild afternoon
0‑3 against CSKA Sofia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Septemvri will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with CSKA Sofia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Septemvri offered $740.0K; Dobrudzha said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Levski have accepted the money. What Septemvri do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Dobrudzha 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.
Septemvri had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Botev Plovdiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
André Liberal 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lyubomir Vasilev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
André Liberal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Septemvri have made the call to Botev Plovdiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 André Liberal is on it.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Borislav Stoichkov scored in the 87th minute, Slavia Sofia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Septemvri took the lot.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Septemvri 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.
André Liberal 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Borislav Stoichkov. 2‑1 against Slavia Sofia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 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.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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 dugout29 Jul 2030
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.” Kristian Minev chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Levski; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Nikola Genchev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 17 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
André Liberal 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.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Septemvri have made the call to Botev Plovdiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The deal with CSKA Sofia 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.
$740.0K on the table at Dobrudzha. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
André Liberal 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.
Septemvri asked and Dobrudzha 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 deal with Levski 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Danail Bojinov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Septemvri 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kubrat Onasci is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Septemvri and CSKA Sofia have settled on $1.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Everything agreed with Dobrudzha, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Lokomotiv Sofia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Kubrat Onasci is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Levski keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
André Liberal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Everything agreed with Ludogorets, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
André Liberal 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.
Septemvri asked and Dobrudzha said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Septemvri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Hristo Argirov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Septemvri have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dimitar Mladenov is 17, and Septemvri have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emil Tunchev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitar Chelebiev signs something — a contract at Septemvri or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Septemvri is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 14 and 21 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.
André Liberal 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
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 Faiz Mattoir is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces13 May 2030
Supporters make their feelings known about Nikola Genchev
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Septemvri would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kristian Minev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
André Liberal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kubrat Onasci is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
André Liberal 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 Apr 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
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 André Liberal is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
67 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 14 and 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
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 Faiz Mattoir is on it.
“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 dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladimir Manolev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kristian Minev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Hristo Chochev is on it.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Septemvri says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Ortuño 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitar Chelebiev signs something — a contract at Septemvri or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Septemvri would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Septemvri is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Septemvri training over how hard people work
The dugoutAndré Liberal has become a man the manager trusts
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 14 and 21 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Liberal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
André Liberal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Borislav Stoichkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nikola Serafimov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“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 Septemvri will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The terracesThe Nikola Genchev rumours reach the terraces
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kristian Minev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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 young player of the month award goes to a 18-year-old at Septemvri who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nikolay Prandzhev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kubrat Onasci is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Septemvri, another week without a signature from Borislav Stoichkov.
André Liberal 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 Feb 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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.
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 André Liberal is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
André Liberal 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
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 Faiz Mattoir is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Ivo Dyakov, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Septemvri would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutVladimir Manolev is still being punished for one mistake
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Septemvri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Dobrudzha will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Septemvri were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Septemvri and Dobrudzha in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Septemvri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Septemvri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Septemvri close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 5 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.
$28.0K on the table at Dobrudzha. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
André Liberal scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Spartak 1918, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Kubrat Onasci 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 words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
André Liberal 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Septemvri and CSKA 1948, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Player ratingsFaiz Mattoir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
0‑3 against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 14 and 18 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ludogorets is saying, and nobody at Septemvri is enjoying the guessing.
André Liberal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Emil Tunchev
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Montana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Everything agreed with Ludogorets, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Septemvri had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
11 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.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kristian Minev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The offer from CSKA Sofia for Faiz Mattoir 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 ratings7 Jan 2030
Ivo Dyakov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebas Wade will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Liberal 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Septemvri and Arda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of André Liberal at his very best
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
1‑8 against Ludogorets, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Septemvri and Ludogorets in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Botev Plovdiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
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 0‑1 Kristian Minev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Ludogorets.
1‑4 to CSKA Sofia, 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.
7 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.
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Faiz Mattoir had Septemvri level again within 3 minutes, and CSKA Sofia never got to play with a lead at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebas Wade will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Septemvri is running low.
Beaten 8 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
André Liberal 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.
9 goals in one match, Ivo Dyakov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Septemvri and Levski.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Genchev commits to Septemvri for another 4 years.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Ludogorets go through and Septemvri go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
André Liberal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kristian Minev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The mood at Septemvri has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
André Liberal 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
He is 17 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Liberal. 2‑0 against Dobrudzha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Position 14 and 10 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Septemvri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
André Liberal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Faiz Mattoir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Septemvri, another week without a signature from Emil Tunchev.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebas Wade will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
André Liberal 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Ivo Dyakov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
André Liberal 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivo Dyakov 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Septemvri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
André Liberal 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.
6 goals in one match, André Liberal on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Septemvri and Ludogorets.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Septemvri 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.
The deal with Ludogorets 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolay Prandzhev and Septemvri agree another 4 years.
André Liberal 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Septemvri and Botev Plovdiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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 club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
0‑5 to Levski, 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dimitar Chelebiev and Septemvri agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
André Liberal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Sofia have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Mladenov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
At 17 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Botev Plovdiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
André Liberal 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 21 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Galin Grigorov has agreed terms with Levski for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 6.83 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikola Genchev is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
André Liberal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Sebas Wade has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kristian Minev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Nikola Soldo is in the works
At 21 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.
André Liberal 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
$10.0K settles it between the clubs for Martin Lukov
CSKA Sofia have accepted the money. What Septemvri do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 23 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Septemvri have done the hard part with Ludogorets, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Kubrat Onasci 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lokomotiv Plovdiv; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentin Bojinov and Septemvri agree another 3 years.
Septemvri have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
André Liberal 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.
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faiz Mattoir 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.
Septemvri asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.