The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CS Tunari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bachirou Yaméogo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The deal with Farul Constanța 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.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Claudiu Dragusin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Geliano Fortes is living that version at CS Tunari, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovidiu Perianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
CS Tunari asked and Petrolul Ploiești said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Robert Mustacă 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Tunari, another week without a signature from Cristi Bărbuţ.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Denis Ispas has his answer from CS Tunari; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Tunari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akim Bouheddi 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.
7 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovidiu Perianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Raul Stanciu 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.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu Perianu 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.
Raul Stanciu 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Claudiu Dragusin after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
5 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: 16. 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Levente Bara 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Claudiu Dragusin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari 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 Ovidiu Perianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Fran Callejón
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fran Callejón has come out of that comparison in the side, and CS Tunari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovidiu Perianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bachirou Yaméogo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Buta 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Something was said to Raul Stanciu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Claudiu Dragusin after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Tunari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Something was said to Robert Mustacă and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andreas Ivan. 1‑0 against FC Bihor Oradea, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
At 18 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.
Bachirou Yaméogo 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 Mar 2027
Gabriel Buta 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CS Tunari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Gabriel Buta 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu Perianu 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Minute 95, against CSC Șelimbăr, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Tunari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu Perianu 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Buta 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bachirou Yaméogo 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 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.37 for the rest of it.
Bachirou Yaméogo 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 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Claudiu Dragusin chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
8 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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
9 new faces, and CS Tunari are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Claudiu Dragusin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the CS Tunari dressing room was either.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. David Easmon has, at CS Tunari, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovidiu Perianu 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. Porto have kept their man, and CS Tunari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CS Tunari may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at CS Tunari 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Akim Bouheddi has just signed for CS Tunari, and for once the answer mattered.
Gabriel Buta 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Tunari, another week without a signature from Ovidiu Perianu.
“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 CS Tunari, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
CS Tunari had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Universitatea Cluj, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gabriel Buta 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.
CS Tunari asked and Sepsi OSK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionuţ Pop 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
The fee is $270.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. CFR Cluj drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
The offer went to Universitatea Cluj 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 CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ovidiu Perianu from CFR Cluj for $270.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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.
CS Tunari and CFR Cluj have settled on $270.0K. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Tunari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
CS Tunari asked and Universitatea Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Fran Callejón 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.
Bachirou Yaméogo 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.
CS Tunari asked and FC Bihor Oradea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ionuţ Pop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CS Tunari know it.
Half the programme played, position 16, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Tunari, another week without a signature from Cristi Bărbuţ.
Alexander Lazaro, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachirou Yaméogo 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Robert Mustacă and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Claudiu Dragusin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Emanuel Breban
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Tunari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CS Tunari can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fran Callejón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Claudiu Dragusin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the CS Tunari dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Concordia Chiajna defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Tunari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ionuţ Pop 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.
Sory Traoré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Claudiu Dragusin left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Adrian Bălan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CS Tunari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 CS Tunari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gabriel Buta 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: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Robert Răducioiu commits to CS Tunari for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Claudiu Dragusin to a room that had heard them before.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CS Tunari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gabriel Buta 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 Bachirou Yaméogo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Claudiu Dragusin to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ionuţ Pop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Something was said to Robert Mustacă and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachirou Yaméogo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 CSM Reșița.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ionuţ Pop has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutMamadu Baio knocks on the manager's door
Bachirou Yaméogo 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 Fran Callejón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Claudiu Dragusin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Bachirou Yaméogo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionuţ Pop 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Krzysztof Wrzosek and CS Tunari agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and CSC Șelimbăr spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Marked 7.50. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Claudiu Dragusin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Gabriel Buta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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 CS Tunari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Robert Răducioiu is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Gabriel Buta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ionuţ Pop 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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Tunari, another week without a signature from Quentin Bena.
In brief
The dugoutSory Traoré asks for a word with the manager
Gabriel Buta 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at CS Tunari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachirou Yaméogo 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexander Lazaro 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.
A 2‑0 win over Câmpulung Muscel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Andreas Ivan in the middle of it, and Câmpulung Muscel unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Andreas Ivan
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Fran Callejón 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.
17 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to George Gogescu, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Claudiu Dragusin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the CS Tunari dressing room was either.
Câmpulung Muscel next, and one man in the CS Tunari dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought 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 CS Tunari 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 Ionuţ Pop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at CS Tunari has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 Răzvan Dumitru is on it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Tunari can pretend not to have heard.
Gabriel Buta 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.
CS Tunari asked and Dukla Prague 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 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. CS Tunari will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Tunari can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at CS Tunari 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.
CS Tunari have gone to Sepsi OSK with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Petrolul Ploiești have kept their man, and CS Tunari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Sory Traoré 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.
A loan enquiry to Petrolul Ploiești: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to FCSB; CS Tunari go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Noah Medalli has, at CS Tunari, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ionuţ Pop 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.
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Emanuel Breban: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A 2‑2 win over CSC Dumbrăvița, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Răzvan Dumitru, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mamadu Baio is living that version at CS Tunari, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with FCSB 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.
At 21 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at CS Tunari is enjoying the guessing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $32.2K — a club that wants Daniele Luncaşu enough to be asked twice.
Gabriel Buta 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. Steaua Bucharest have kept their man, and CS Tunari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriel Buta has just signed for CS Tunari, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Tunari can pretend not to have heard.
$1.2M on the table at Universitatea Craiova. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$26.0K on the table at FC Bacău. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Tunari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
CS Tunari spend $230.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $230.0K for Ionuţ Pop, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergiu Burca 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrei Maxim is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadIonuţ Pop falls out with a teammate over standards
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 offer went to Sepsi OSK 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.
CS Tunari have gone to Hermannstadt with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.