The mood at CSM Reșița 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Unirea Slobozia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ASA Târgu Mureș waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christian Garofalo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
CSM Reșița 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.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at CSM Reșița, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Moldovan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSM Reșița they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at CSM Reșița hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Radu Negru 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Reșița can pretend not to have heard.
Radu Negru 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Naim Telmoudi is living that version at CSM Reșița, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Naim Telmoudi is 20, and CSM Reșița 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CSM Reșița will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at CSM Reșița 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Reșița will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CSM Reșița is running low.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Reșița will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is 20, and nobody at CSM Reșița signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSM Reșița they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSM Reșița will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Radu Negru 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 May 2028
9 new faces, and CSM Reșița 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.
Enisio Carneiro is 20, and CSM Reșița 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSM Reșița will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marius Cioiu 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.
He is 20, and nobody at CSM Reșița signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Laurantino Mendes's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CSM Reșița. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The mood at CSM Reșița 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.
“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 CSM Reșița, 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 CSM Reșița 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rareş Lazăr trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadRăzvan Grădinaru is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CSM Reșița is running low.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radu Negru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSM Reșița they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Reșița 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 CSM Reșița 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation CSM Reșița are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Moldovan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Radu Negru 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Deian Sorescu's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Răzvan Grădinaru 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at CSM Reșița has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSM Reșița will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CSM Reșița will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Salatiel Decarpentrie is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Radu Negru’s negotiating for him
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Radu Negru 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 Mar 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
6 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.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Haruna Attah is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
15 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Moldovan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 19 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marius Cioiu and CSM Reșița agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
Rareş Lazăr 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.
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.
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.
“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 CSM Reșița, 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 CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marius Cioiu.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Cristian Dumitru 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Monday Etim 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.
200 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.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Radu Negru has agreed terms with Rapid Bucharest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Radu Negru 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.
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.
0‑4 to FC Argeș, 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at CSM Reșița can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at CSM Reșița 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.
Marius Cioiu 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Christian Garofalo has, at CSM Reșița, 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 Mohammed Kamara 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. Hermannstadt have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
10 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
CSM Reșița 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.
Răzvan Grădinaru 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 upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CSM Reșița is running low.
Position 14 and 17 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.
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.
Mohammed Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Monday Etim 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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 Ianis Moldovan to a room that had heard them before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alin Dudea.
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.
Radu Negru 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 Mohammed Kamara 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. Hermannstadt have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
200 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSM Reșița, another week without a signature from Radu Negru.
“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.
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 offer from Metaloglobus Bucharest for Florin Antonescu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara 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. Petrolul Ploiești have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marius Cioiu 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joey Brandt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Radu Negru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
“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 dugout20 Dec 2027
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 Ianis Moldovan to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Răzvan Grădinaru 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 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 Daniel Vîrtej has written the date down.
“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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at CSM Reșița can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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 CSM Reșița can pretend not to have heard.
Marius Cioiu 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Deian Sorescu's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSM Reșița, another week without a signature from Gbolagade Adelowo.
Position 14 and 15 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CSM Reșița is running low.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Reșița have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Rareş Lazăr 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.
200 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Vlad Dragomir at his very best
Player ratingsMarius Cioiu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Boardroom123% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Reșița
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and UTA Arad were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A brace, and Marius Cioiu takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marius Cioiu provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joey Brandt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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: Marius Cioiu. 2‑0 against UTA Arad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Cristian Dumitru 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 Nov 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Raul Şteau’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CSM Reșița needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alin Dudea trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at CSM Reșița would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Vlad Dragomir 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
“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.
Nobody at CSM Reșița is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gbolagade Adelowo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vlad Dragomir 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 Nov 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Reșița will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joey Brandt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Răzvan Grădinaru 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 needed Vlad Dragomir to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Olimpia Satu Mare, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Steaua Bucharest go through and CSM Reșița go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Rareş Lazăr 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against FC Argeș in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee CSM Reșița could ask drops and the wages Gbolagade Adelowo can ask rise.
8 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Marius Cioiu 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joey Brandt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Dumitru 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ianis Moldovan after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The 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 Universitatea Cluj.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jihlava have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Minute 89, against Universitatea Craiova, 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and CSM Reșița 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Reșița will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Marius Cioiu 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
CSM Reșița asked and FC Argeș 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Marius Dragusin 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Reșița will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
CSM Reșița close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 14 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.
Radu Negru 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 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hermannstadt have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CSM Reșița, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSM Reșița they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Joey Brandt has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara 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. Debrecen have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from FC Bacău for Mihai Dolghi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Corvinul Hunedoara 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 medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Cosmin Bancu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
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 Ianis Moldovan left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Kieran Wilson is in the works
Squad6 new faces, and CSM Reșița are still learning each other
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Gbolagade Adelowo has agreed terms with Olimpia Satu Mare for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Radu Negru 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
CSM Reșița asked and FC Argeș said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gbolagade Adelowo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSM Reșița 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.” CSM Reșița have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Dorin Codrea delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dorin Codrea scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița 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 Mohammed Kamara 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. Hermannstadt have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Joey Brandt
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Câmpulung Muscel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CSM Reșița is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Reșița have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara 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 CSM Reșița know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Debrecen have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part 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 CSM Reșița 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 Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 93, against Metaloglobus Bucharest, 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.
Add another name to the list: FC Bacău have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mihai Dolghi. The answer from CSM Reșița has not changed — yet.
Radu Negru 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 Mohammed Kamara 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. FC Argeș have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every CSM Reșița game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hermannstadt runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Marius Cioiu 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ciprian Moldovan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicusor Coman has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Sigma Olomouc have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation CSM Reșița are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
CSM Reșița asked and Viktoria Žižkov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Politehnica Iași: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSM Reșița, another week without a signature from Gbolagade Adelowo.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CSM Reșița have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Voluntari for Marius Cioiu 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Reșița 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 CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Hermannstadt 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 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. CSM Reșița will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Reșița have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marius Cioiu 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 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.
Add another name to the list: Corvinul Hunedoara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Claudiu Apró. The answer from CSM Reșița has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CSM Reșița has been clear about where Ouadie Salhi stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and CSM Reșița are still learning each other
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Universitatea Craiova 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.
Marius Cioiu 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Metaloglobus Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ianis Mihaila is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Keseru is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Balasa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Joey Brandt
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Hermannstadt have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Robert Jerdea. The answer from CSM Reșița has not changed — yet.
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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CSM Reșița has been clear about where Robert Burlacu stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSM Reșița are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Alexandru Negru has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutJoey Brandt asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee CSM Reșița could ask drops and the wages Gbolagade Adelowo can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CSM Reșița. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Radu Negru 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at CSM Reșița now.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ianis Moldovan after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Olimpia Satu Mare will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Reșița have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Olimpia Satu Mare, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Robert Jerdea 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ianis Moldovan kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSM Reșița, another week without a signature from Joey Brandt.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radu Negru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicu Modan. 2‑1 against Gloria Bistrița, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Olimpia Satu Mare next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Marked 7.99 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, CSM Reșița had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.” Ianis Moldovan, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Robert Jerdea will call it something else in private.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Cioiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. CSM Reșița found something the first half had given no notice of, and FC Bacău could not hold what they had.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A brace, and Christ Afalna takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christ Afalna provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Reșița can pretend not to have heard.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.89, and 2 involvements.
Marius Cioiu 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Radu Negru 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
“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 CSM Reșița know it.
“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 dugout19 Apr 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.” Ianis Moldovan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other 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 CSM Reșița, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CS Tunari? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Alin Dudea
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSM Reșița are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
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 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for CSM Reșița is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Alin Dudea 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 long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and CSM Reșița know now that the thought has arrived.
Something was said to Patryk Letkiewicz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CSC Dumbrăvița in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Radu Negru 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.
Politehnica Iași left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 Ianis Moldovan left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patryk Letkiewicz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at CSM Reșița is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Position 4 on 52 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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.
Christ Afalna 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.
Concordia Chiajna left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ianis Moldovan to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Radu Negru is still being punished for one mistake
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 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 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.
Position 3, 49 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marius Cioiu 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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 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 CSM Reșița know 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 CSM Reșița can pretend not to have heard.
Radu Negru 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.
“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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. CSC Șelimbăr defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
FC Bihor Oradea next, and one man in the CSM Reșița dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Mihai Dolghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Wil said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and CSM Reșița 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ianis Moldovan after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CS Dinamo Bucharest? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutRobert Jerdea asks for a word with the manager
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Câmpulung Muscel, and it could have been more.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Christ Afalna takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christ Afalna provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between CSM Reșița and Câmpulung Muscel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marius Cioiu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepsi OSK have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Radu Negru 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at CSM Reșița now.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
At 22 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Cristian Dumitru will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at CSM Reșița escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radu Negru 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 terraces25 Jan 2027
CSM Reșița spend $3.7M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.7M for Mohammed Kamara, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Marius Cioiu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Voluntari have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
CFR Cluj have accepted the money. What CSM Reșița 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 CSM Reșița, 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 CSM Reșița 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 Alin Dudea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joey Brandt has, at CSM Reșița, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Hermannstadt 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 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
CSM Reșița asked and Slask said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and CSM Reșița have had the benefit of it.
Marius Cioiu 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gbolagade Adelowo 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 words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Marius Cioiu 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 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.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Corvinul Hunedoara were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
8.20. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alin Dudea 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ianis Moldovan could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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 words a physio says slowly. 24 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 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 CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Olimpia Satu Mare left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 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 Ianis Moldovan to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nicuşor Fota 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CSM Reșița told Raul Şteau something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Reșița lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 CSM Reșița can tell you which week it ends in.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CSM Reșița, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gbolagade Adelowo 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.
Radu Negru 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CSM Reșița can tell you which week it ends in.
ASA Târgu Mureș left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alin Dudea 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nicu Modan 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout7 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 Ianis Moldovan left the room before anybody could ask which.
Marius Cioiu 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 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“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 CSM Reșița know it.
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 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.
Position 2, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone 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 CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. CS Tunari defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSM Reșița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at CSM Reșița was different afterwards.
Marius Cioiu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alin Dudea 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.
Marius Cioiu 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ianis Moldovan could afford to be generous.
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A 2‑1 win over CSC Dumbrăvița, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Alin Dudea 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
150% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Reșița
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.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. CSM Reșița have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Răzvan Grădinaru is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița 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 Alin Dudea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Politehnica Iași? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
CSC Dumbrăvița next, and one man in the CSM Reșița dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Hermannstadt go through and CSM Reșița go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicuşor Fota 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ianis Moldovan could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Raul Şteau
Marius Cioiu 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Răzvan Grădinaru’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CSM Reșița needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
A side in position 15 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Cristian Dumitru’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadMihai Dolghi is training like a man with a point to make
Marius Cioiu 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
195% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Reșița
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.
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alin Dudea 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.
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.
“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 CSM Reșița know 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 CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSM Reșița can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
1 for Ouadie Salhi, marked 7.88, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against FC Bihor Oradea in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alin Dudea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dieudonné Noumonvi and CSM Reșița agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ianis Moldovan after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CSM Reșița will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
That is the business done at CSM Reșița 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.
Radu Negru 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. CSM Reșița will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elton 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.
CSM Reșița opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Mihai Dolghi stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“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 CSM Reșița, and it is not being withdrawn.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Câmpulung Muscel had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and CSM Reșița did not stop to explain themselves.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Petrolul Ploiești have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.7K — a club that wants Ştefan Opriş enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Petrolul Ploiești keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Universitatea Cluj wanted more than $19.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at CSM Reșița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alin Dudea 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.
CSM Reșița asked and Panionios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alin Dudea 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.
CSM Reșița have gone to Universitatea Cluj 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
CSM Reșița spend $1.1M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.1M for Cristian Dumitru, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A brace, and Ouadie Salhi takes the afternoon — 8.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ouadie Salhi provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Metalul Buzău have accepted the money. What CSM Reșița do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Reșița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and CSM Reșița know now that the thought has arrived.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dorin Marin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mihai Coman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer went to Metalul Buzău 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bucharest have kept their man, and CSM Reșița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marius Cioiu 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSM Reșița are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alin Dudea 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.
Minute 93, against Chindia Târgoviște, 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.