30 May 2030
Thursday
Process
200 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the FCSB boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Market

Thomas Cordier has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

When it matters, Denis Drăguş plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ivan Sergeev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Sergeev, and the manager let it.

Market

The Ofri Arad question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ofri Arad’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

FCSB in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 23 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

Seydou Sy knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
199 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Matija Malekinušić puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Ivan Sergeev has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Radunović 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“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 FCSB know it.

The dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oleksandr Romanchuk is on it.

Market

Darius Olaru linked with a move away

The name of Darius Olaru keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Moussa Wagué

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.

The dugout

Seydou Sy knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

198 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

Meriton Korenica linked with a move away

The name of Meriton Korenica keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Narcis Ilaş asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

A wage question at FCSB

Josef Kolářík has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.

In brief

197 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

FCSB put Ianis Bancu on notice

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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Lukáš Zima and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 47 matches say the rest.

Boardroom

87% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ilja Ishkov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Ishkov, and the manager let it.

Squad

A promotion for Narcis Ilaş

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. Narcis Ilaş has moved up it.

In brief

196 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the FCSB boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Denis Drăguş gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denis Drăguş is on it.

Market

The Ofri Arad question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ofri Arad’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

FCSB have something to play for

Position 5 on 23 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.

In brief

195 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Matija Malekinušić

18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ivan Sergeev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

Darius Olaru linked with a move away

The name of Darius Olaru keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

194 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Matija Malekinušić damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

Darius Olaru has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Meriton Korenica linked with a move away

The name of Meriton Korenica keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

193 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Matija Malekinušić damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.

Boardroom

FCSB spell it out for Ianis Bancu

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Bancu has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 43 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Josef Kolářík without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Josef Kolářík was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Squad

Alexandru Pantea remains an outsider

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 FCSB would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

Market

FCSB and Samuel Teles are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

192 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Matija Malekinušić out for 39 days

39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the FCSB boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Squad

Octavian Popescu slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Octavian Popescu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

When it matters, Denis Drăguş plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Josef Kolářík loses the manager who believed in him

A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Josef Kolářík's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.

Market

The Ofri Arad question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ofri Arad’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market

Talks stall between FCSB and Octavian Popescu

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief

  • Match FCSB have something to play for
  • The dugout Seydou Sy knocks on the manager’s door
  • Boardroom FCSB answer back
191 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Matija Malekinušić out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Matija Malekinušić puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Ivan Sergeev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oleksandr Romanchuk is on it.

Market

Darius Olaru linked with a move away

The name of Darius Olaru keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Denis Drăguş goes off with his country

A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. FCSB would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ivan Sergeev has written the date down.

In brief

190 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Risto Radunović 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“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 FCSB know it.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

Meriton Korenica linked with a move away

The name of Meriton Korenica keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

189 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 39 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The David Miculescu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Miculescu signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

A door opens for Seydou Sy

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.

Market

The shop window has Zayon Chtaï-Telamio in it

FCSB have let the market know Zayon Chtaï-Telamio can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Boardroom

The FCSB production line keeps running

37 graduates out of an academy now rated 11 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

188 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at FCSB

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Denis Drăguş gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denis Drăguş is on it.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

The Ofri Arad question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ofri Arad’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Boardroom

FCSB pull $3.4M back off the table

The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.

Squad

Risto Radunović keeps his options open

“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 37, with 480 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.

Match

FCSB have something to play for

Position 5 on 23 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.

In brief

187 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

David Miculescu beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 71. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

FCSB bow out of the cup

CFR Cluj go through and FCSB go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Squad

Lukáš Zima is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lukáš Zima: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ivan Sergeev

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Sergeev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Baba Alhassan fails from the spot

Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.

The dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Risto Radunović

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

186 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Matija Malekinušić puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A move Koby Mottoh would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Koby Mottoh is living that version at FCSB, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Boardroom

FCSB agree a free transfer for Jesper Baas

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Transfer targets

FCSB rebuffed over Oier Zon

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAOK have kept their man, and FCSB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Matija Malekinušić wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCSB can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

Meriton Korenica linked with a move away

The name of Meriton Korenica keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

185 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko will not be coming to FCSB

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at FCSB is enjoying the guessing.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Vissel Kobe for Ivan Sergeev 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.

Market

So close: Seydou Sy’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. CFR Cluj moved on, Seydou Sy reports back to FCSB, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell FCSB: Ante Matej Jurić is not for sale

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.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 35 matches say the rest.

Boardroom

85% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

184 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

FCSB close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 1 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.

Market

Thomas Cordier puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eddy Gnahoré and FCSB agree another 2 years.

Transfer targets

NK Maribor tell FCSB: Tiijan Zorko is not for sale

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.

Market

Ivan Sergeev attracts admirers

The name of Ivan Sergeev has come up in conversations FCSB were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Market

FCSB and Denis Drăguş are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Transfer targets

FCSB ask about Oier Zon

A loan enquiry to PAOK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

183 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

FCSB turn down Viitorul for Simon Elisor

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Idris Bounaas puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré out for 37 days

The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Eddy Gnahoré, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Artem Somka

FCSB asked and Zorya 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 dugout

No hiding place for Octavian Popescu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Octavian Popescu, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Darius Olaru story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darius Olaru signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

182 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Seydou Sy agrees terms with CFR Cluj

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Pavlo Isenko

FCSB and Universitatea Craiova have settled on $800.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

The dugout

Baba Alhassan says FCSB went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Joe Adams hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Viacheslav Surkis

FCSB asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

FCSB ask about Artem Somka

A loan enquiry to Zorya: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Squad

Bogdan Deac: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one FCSB will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

181 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ivan Sergeev agrees terms with CFR Cluj

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Seydou Sy says no to Pandurii

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Seydou Sy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko turns down FCSB

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Universitatea Craiova keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell FCSB: Ante Matej Jurić is not for sale

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.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCSB can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Boardroom

96% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 31 matches say the rest.

In brief

180 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Eddy Gnahoré: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Seydou Sy hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Nicolò Profeta turns down FCSB

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pescara keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Cosmin Dragusin

FCSB asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Antalyaspor watching Ivan Sergeev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. FCSB have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Transfer targets

FCSB ask about Ante Matej Jurić

A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

Denis Drăguş gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denis Drăguş is on it.

In brief

179 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

A promise honoured at FCSB

Something was said to Daniel Bîrligea and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

No hiding place for Daniel Costa

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Costa, and the manager let it.

Market

Ofri Arad linked with a move away

The name of Ofri Arad keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

178 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Bogdan Deac: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one FCSB will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

The dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

The Meriton Korenica story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Meriton Korenica signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

FCSB have something to play for

Position 5 on 23 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.

In brief

177 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Simon Elisor says FCSB went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 112% of the FCSB income

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.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Sergiu Chiriches knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergiu Chiriches trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Darius Olaru talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

The manager makes Moussa Wagué a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

176 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

No hiding place for Octavian Popescu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Octavian Popescu, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Denis Drăguş gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denis Drăguş is on it.

Market

Still no ink between FCSB and Octavian Popescu

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at FCSB, another week without a signature from Octavian Popescu.

Market

The David Miculescu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Miculescu signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

175 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Octavian Popescu gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Octavian Popescu has just signed for FCSB, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

As if he never left: Octavian Popescu returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Octavian Popescu is a FCSB player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

No place for Risto Radunović in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Risto Radunović has his answer from FCSB; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Squad

No place for Octavian Popescu in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation FCSB are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Baba Alhassan

“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 dugout

A promise honoured at FCSB

Something was said to David Miculescu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

  • The dugout Risto Radunović knocks on the manager’s door
  • Market Ofri Arad linked with a move away
  • Boardroom The FCSB production line keeps running
174 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Cup progress for FCSB

A 1‑0 win over Pandurii, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

FCSB leave it late against Pandurii

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Pandurii spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

The dugout

Baba Alhassan: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Moussa Wagué runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Player ratings

Daniel Bîrligea was the difference for FCSB

Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

173 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

FCSB finish in position 5

23 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josef Kolářík

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

119% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

Player ratings

Alexandru Pantea was the difference for FCSB

Marked 7.39. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Risto Radunović

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Ianis Bancu on the draw

“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.

In brief

172 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

David Miculescu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 40. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Match

FCSB come up short against Pandurii

Pandurii left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“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 FCSB know it.

Looking ahead

The neighbours are next for FCSB

Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Dinamo Bucharest on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.

Boardroom

Doors closed at FCSB

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

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 Bancu to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

No place for Eddy Gnahoré on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FCSB pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

In brief

171 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

FCSB let it slip despite João Paulo

João Paulo had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Botosani were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and João Paulo delivers — 7.77

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. João Paulo scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

The dugout

Daniel Costa keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCSB against Botosani

2‑3 to Botosani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Player ratings

Zoran Mitrov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Sergiu Chiriches gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Denis Drăguş at his very best

Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FCSB.

In brief

170 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

FCSB get the job done against Voluntari

A 2‑0 win over Voluntari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Denis Drăguş

Marked 8.30 — 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.

Player ratings

David Miculescu was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josef Kolářík

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

A satisfied Ianis Bancu

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ianis Bancu could afford to be generous.

The dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Moussa Wagué

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

169 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Nowhere to hide for FCSB

0‑3 against Universitatea Craiova, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Player ratings

Zoran Mitrov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

Boardroom

114% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

Boardroom

Nobody left the FCSB dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Wahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

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 0‑3 Ianis Bancu left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

168 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

David Miculescu scores twice — 8.95

Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Zoran Mitrov

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Match

FCSB find a way past Petrolul

Petrolul made FCSB work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Lukáš Zima

“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.

Match

FCSB settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Petrolul spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

The dugout

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 Bancu, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

167 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

David Miculescu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 36. 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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukáš Zima and FCSB agree another 2 years.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

CFR Cluj take the points off FCSB

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

13 new faces, and FCSB 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.

The dugout

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 Bancu left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zoran Mitrov

“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 dugout

Denis Drăguş has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

166 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from FCSB

Viitorul will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. FCSB were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

A day Denis Drăguş will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Denis Drăguş at his very best

Marked 9.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FCSB.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The terraces

One of their own: Narcis Ilaş

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.

Match

FCSB settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Viitorul spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Squad

David Miculescu falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Darius Olaru was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.02. 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.

In brief

165 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

Meriton Korenica the difference as FCSB beat Astra

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meriton Korenica. 1‑0 against Astra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 101% of the FCSB income

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.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Meriton Korenica

A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Wahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

A satisfied Ianis Bancu

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ianis Bancu could afford to be generous.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 13. 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.

In brief

164 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Derby day misery for FCSB

Losing 0‑1 is one thing; losing to Dinamo Bucharest in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

FCSB cannot find the net

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.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Home is on Moussa Wagué's mind

“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; FCSB are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match

The half-term report on FCSB

Position 7, 10 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

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 Bancu to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

In brief

163 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Zoran Mitrov was unplayable

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.

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko will not be coming to FCSB

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at FCSB is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Emeka Adiele gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emeka Adiele has just signed for FCSB, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

FCSB come up short against Pandurii

Pandurii left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Looking ahead

Derby week at FCSB

Dinamo Bucharest next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

Boardroom

Doors closed at FCSB

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad

FCSB are still strangers to each other

13 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Ivan Sergeev gets it from the manager
  • The dugout When it matters, Denis Drăguş plays
162 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A hiding for FCSB

Beaten 0‑4 by Botosani, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

So close: Ivan Sergeev’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. CFR Cluj moved on, Ivan Sergeev reports back to FCSB, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 15 signed and 11 gone

That is the business done at FCSB 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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Bence Batik has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Alexandru Pantea signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandru Pantea and FCSB agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josef Kolářík

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

  • Player ratings Alex Sola ran the middle of the pitch — 6.63
  • Boardroom Inquest at FCSB
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
161 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Alexandru Maxim has said yes to Botosani

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Roan Wilson has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

Denis Drăguş sends FCSB past Voluntari

It finished 2‑0, and it was Denis Drăguş’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCSB.

Squad

Denis Drăguş reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Player ratings

Meriton Korenica in the eights

A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Denis Drăguş was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.09. 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.

The dugout

Risto Radunović gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

160 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Chastening afternoon for FCSB

A 0‑3 beating by Universitatea Craiova was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Lukáš Zima stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

No deal for Alexandru Musi at that price

FCSB offered $3.5M; Universitatea Craiova said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Market

Luuk Beekman asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Stijn Kuijsten due for a FCSB medical

Everything agreed with PSV, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Viacheslav Surkis

FCSB asked and Chornomorets 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Lukáš Zima

“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.

In brief

  • Squad A row about effort at FCSB
  • Squad Appearance number 100 for Narcis Ilaş
  • Boardroom Nobody left the FCSB dressing room in a hurry
159 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Denis Drăguş scores twice — 9.33

Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

FCSB strike at the death to beat Petrolul

There were 85 minutes on the clock and Petrolul had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and FCSB did not stop to explain themselves.

Player ratings

David Miculescu beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

FCSB make their move for Alexandru Musi

$3.5M on the table at Universitatea Craiova. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Pavlo Isenko rejects the move

FCSB had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Universitatea Craiova, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Transfer targets

Rapid Wien tell FCSB: Benjamin Göschl is not for sale

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.

Match

FCSB get the job done against Petrolul

A 2‑1 win over Petrolul, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

158 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

David Miculescu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 45. 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.

Market

Terms done: Ivan Sergeev is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CFR Cluj waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Squad

10 seasons of Darius Olaru

393 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and FCSB know what they have.

The dugout

Luke Mbete keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Boardroom

Bence Batik signs for Viitorul while still at FCSB

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bence Batik has agreed terms with Viitorul for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Darius Olaru signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Olaru and FCSB agree another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Only the photograph left for Bence Batik

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bence Batik will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Eyes on Roan Wilson again

The phone has started ringing about Roan Wilson again, and this time the name on the line is Universitatea Craiova. FCSB are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

  • Match FCSB get the job done against CFR Cluj
  • Squad Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
  • Player ratings Denis Drăguş was on a different afternoon to everybody else
157 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

30 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Alexandru Maxim agrees terms with Botosani

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Alexandru Musi

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FCSB have done the hard part with Universitatea Craiova, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Roan Wilson is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Seydou Sy

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Thomas Cordier arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Thomas Cordier has, at FCSB, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell FCSB: Tai Žnuderl is not for sale

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.

Squad

David Miculescu falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

156 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

CFR Cluj come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Joyskim Dawa asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Octavian Popescu

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Octavian Popescu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

A new deal for Ianis Bancu

The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Mihai Toma at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mihai Toma is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Etienne Michut gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Etienne Michut has just signed for FCSB, and for once the answer mattered.

Boardroom

Graduation day at FCSB

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Oier Zon

FCSB asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

155 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Joyskim Dawa agrees terms with Voluntari

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Alexandru Maxim asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko due for a FCSB medical

Everything agreed with Universitatea Craiova, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

CFR Cluj watching Ivan Sergeev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. FCSB have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

Alexandru Maxim is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Real improvement from Narcis Ilaş at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Narcis Ilaş is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Siyabonga Ngezana has improved at 32, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

In brief

154 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Ivan Sergeev asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Terms done: Octavian Popescu is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Universitatea Craiova waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Joyskim Dawa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Daniel Costa is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Eddy Gnahoré and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

Crvena Zvezda tell FCSB: Matyáš Šilhavý is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Sergiu Man attracts admirers

The name of Sergiu Man has come up in conversations FCSB were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

  • The dugout Denis Drăguş gets picked when it counts
  • Match Continental football is in reach for FCSB
  • The dugout Ivan Sergeev has been promised minutes
153 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev says FCSB went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Zoran Mitrov puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Beitar Jerusalem for Seydou Sy 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.

Market

Roan Wilson has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Michał Matys due for a FCSB medical

Everything agreed with Legia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

The step up is real for Josef Kolářík

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eddy Gnahoré and FCSB agree another 2 years.

Transfer targets

FCSB rebuffed over Daan Hulleman

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and FCSB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

  • Market Joyskim Dawa attracts admirers
  • Squad A row about effort at FCSB
  • Boardroom Wages swallow 95% of the FCSB income
152 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Risto Radunović asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Ciprian Bancu agrees terms with Astra

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Universitatea Craiova come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

CFR Cluj tell FCSB: Lisandru Olmeta is not for sale

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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

David Miculescu 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Ofri Arad's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Meriton Korenica talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

151 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Terms done: Roan Wilson is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CFR Cluj waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

FCSB turn down Antalyaspor for Ivan Sergeev

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Universitatea Craiova join the queue for David Miculescu

Add another name to the list: Universitatea Craiova have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David Miculescu. The answer from FCSB has not changed — yet.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Feyenoord tell FCSB: Tim Haksteeg is not for sale

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.

Squad

David Miculescu 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ivan Sergeev

“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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Matyáš Šilhavý is in the works

FCSB have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Darius Olaru has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

150 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Lukáš Zima

18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Alexandru Maxim has said yes to Botosani

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Pavlo Isenko

FCSB and Universitatea Craiova have settled on $800.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Eyes on Ivan Sergeev again

The phone has started ringing about Ivan Sergeev again, and this time the name on the line is Antalyaspor. FCSB are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

Astra come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Narcis Ilaş signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Narcis Ilaş commits to FCSB for another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zoran Mitrov

“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.

In brief

149 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Lukáš Zima damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.

Market

Daniel Graovac hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mihai Toma

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihai Toma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Toni Silić

FCSB asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Daniel Costa signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Costa commits to FCSB for another 4 years.

Market

Al Wahda join the queue for Kai Crampton

Add another name to the list: Al Wahda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kai Crampton. The answer from FCSB has not changed — yet.

Market

No place for Risto Radunović in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Risto Radunović has his answer from FCSB; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

148 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Boardroom

Silverware for FCSB

They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Lukáš Zima

32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

Continental nights are coming to FCSB

Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.

Match

FCSB march on in the cup

Dinamo Bucharest are out and FCSB go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Squad

Alexandru Stoian is the young player of the season

Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.

Market

Only the photograph left for Joyskim Dawa

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joyskim Dawa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

A derby belongs to Eddy Gnahoré

Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. FCSB have their man.

Match

FCSB cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • Player ratings Josef Kolářík beats them one at a time
  • Squad A row about effort at FCSB
  • The dugout The manager has not finished forgetting Ofri Arad's mistake
147 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Lukáš Zima damages knee ligaments — 43 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Aymen Boutoutaou

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aymen Boutoutaou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

João Paulo out for 38 days

The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for João Paulo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Radunović 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 dugout

When it matters, Ofri Arad plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

146 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Only the photograph left for Ciprian Bancu

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ciprian Bancu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Narcis Ilaş counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CFR Cluj runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Meriton Korenica question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Meriton Korenica’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

FCSB keep their word to Alexandru Maxim

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 dugout

The manager makes Simon Elisor a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Silviu Lung knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

  • Boardroom FCSB keep producing them
  • Boardroom FCSB board back the manager
  • Squad Welcome back, Ivan Sergeev
145 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Mihai Toma has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 17 days out for Dylan Batubinsika

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. FCSB will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 95% of the FCSB income

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.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Continental football is in reach for FCSB

26 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Squad

Is this Daniel Graovac’s last season?

“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Daniel Graovac is 35, with 357 appearances behind him, and FCSB will have to plan for whichever answer comes.

In brief

144 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

FCSB count the cost of losing Oleksandr Romanchuk

37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Market

Joyskim Dawa is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

143 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Aymen Boutoutaou has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

FCSB lose João Paulo

67 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Bence Batik out for 14 days

The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Bence Batik, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

When it matters, Ofri Arad plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

142 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Samuel Teles says FCSB went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ciprian Bancu

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ciprian Bancu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Loan watch

Narcis Ilaş counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CFR Cluj runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Daniel Graovac gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

Market

The Meriton Korenica question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Meriton Korenica’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Ivan Sergeev

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.

In brief

  • Boardroom The FCSB academy earns its keep
  • Squad Eddy Gnahoré is out on the grass again
141 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Seydou Sy: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mihai Toma

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihai Toma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Samuel Teles stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Teles and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

FCSB in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 26 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

Daniel Graovac knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager makes Ivan Sergeev a promise
  • Squad A wage question at FCSB
140 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Oleksandr Romanchuk out for 72 days

The medical room confirms 72 days on the sidelines for Oleksandr Romanchuk, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Joyskim Dawa is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Samuel Teles stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Teles and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ivan Sergeev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Sergeev, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Oleksandr Romanchuk plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Darius Olaru story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darius Olaru signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

The clock runs on Samuel Teles's contract

24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

In brief

139 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Eddy Gnahoré out for 19 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Aymen Boutoutaou is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Squad

A quiet fortnight at FCSB

With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

The dugout

Ofri Arad gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ofri Arad is on it.

In brief

138 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

26 days out for Eddy Gnahoré after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ciprian Bancu

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ciprian Bancu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Radunović 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 dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Daniel Bîrligea knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Bîrligea trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Meriton Korenica question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Meriton Korenica’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Ivan Sergeev

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.

In brief

  • Squad Daniel Costa is starting to look at home
  • Boardroom FCSB keep producing them
137 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

33 days out for Eddy Gnahoré after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Mihai Toma has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

Daniel Graovac gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Darius Olaru has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Continental football is in reach for FCSB

26 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

In brief

136 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Eddy Gnahoré out for 43 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Joyskim Dawa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Meriton Korenica signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Meriton Korenica commits to FCSB for another 4 years.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oleksandr Romanchuk is on it.

Market

Kai Crampton returns from a loan that taught him nothing

4 appearances and 2 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joyskim Dawa

“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.

Market

The Darius Olaru story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darius Olaru signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

135 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josef Kolářík

Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A fracture rules Eddy Gnahoré out for 51 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Lukáš Zima

There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

FCSB through in the cup

A 1‑0 win over CFR Cluj, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Alexandru Stoian wins it after the whistle should have gone

99 minutes played. Alexandru Stoian found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and CFR Cluj went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Alexandru Stoian, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78

A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Kashiwa Reysol for Ivan Sergeev 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.

Market

Aymen Boutoutaou is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

In brief

134 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré breaks a bone — 58 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Daniel Graovac: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Ciprian Bancu is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Daniel Costa

“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 dugout

David Miculescu knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Meriton Korenica question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Meriton Korenica’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

133 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

12 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

68 days out for Eddy Gnahoré after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Ivan Sergeev says no to Sanfrecce Hiroshima

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ivan Sergeev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Terms done: Ciprian Bancu is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Astra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

The dugout

Silviu Lung keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mihai Toma

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihai Toma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

The Pandurii deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Silviu Lung reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Squad

FCSB lose Daniel Moldovan

32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

132 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Eddy Gnahoré out for 76 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica says FCSB went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Silviu Lung agrees terms with Pandurii

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone

That is the business done at FCSB 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.

Market

Joyskim Dawa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

André Duarte’s move to Voluntari falls through

The deal that would have taken André Duarte to Voluntari has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Isloch for Sergiu Man 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.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

João Paulo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” João Paulo commits to FCSB for another 3 years.

In brief

131 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

André Duarte agrees terms with Voluntari

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Miloš Kopečný asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Aymen Boutoutaou has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Market

Ivan Sergeev attracts admirers

The name of Ivan Sergeev has come up in conversations FCSB were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

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news_b_reunited_with_his_manager

The dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

130 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

22 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Joyskim Dawa agrees terms with Voluntari

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Ciprian Bancu says no to Nomme Kalju

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ciprian Bancu had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Bence Batik puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Universitatea Craiova for Roan Wilson 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

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news_b_reunited_with_his_manager

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

A door opens for Ivan Sergeev

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.

In brief

129 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

15 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Ivan Sergeev is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kashiwa Reysol waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Sergiu Man turns Liepaja down

“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.

Market

Ciprian Bancu asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Universitatea Craiova come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

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news_b_reunited_with_his_manager

The dugout

Darius Olaru has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Bîrligea trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

  • Match Continental football is in reach for FCSB
  • Squad “I want to play”: Seydou Sy speaks
  • Squad Ivan Sergeev remains an outsider
128 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

8 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Aymen Boutoutaou has said yes to Universitatea Craiova

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Joyskim Dawa turns Universitatea Craiova down

“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.

Market

Paulo Cardoso asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Pandurii come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad

David Miculescu 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 dugout

When it matters, Ofri Arad plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Seydou Sy

“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.

In brief

127 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

1 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

David Miculescu keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Ilja Kirsh hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Costa 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 dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alexandru Stoian

“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.

Market

Bence Batik is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at FCSB has been clear about where Bence Batik stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market

The Ofri Arad talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Squad

Daniel Bîrligea still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at FCSB would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

In brief

126 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

14 days out for Samuel Teles after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Alexandru Maxim hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Risto Radunović 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.

Squad

Alexandru Stoian signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandru Stoian and FCSB agree another 5 years.

The dugout

When it matters, Meriton Korenica plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

125 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Samuel Teles out for 22 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Bahia come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The dugout

Silviu Lung keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David Miculescu 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 dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

Market

The Meriton Korenica story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Meriton Korenica signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

FCSB in the hunt for Europe

Position 4, 26 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

The manager makes Simon Elisor a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

  • The dugout Mihai Toma asks for a word with the manager
  • Squad Seydou Sy is starting to look at home
124 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Samuel Teles out for 30 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Silviu Lung is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Ivan Sergeev attracts admirers

The name of Ivan Sergeev has come up in conversations FCSB were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Ofri Arad has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Octavian Popescu

“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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at FCSB that is a harder question to answer.

In brief

123 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Octavian Popescu: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Eddy Gnahoré stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Eddy Gnahoré and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A month that belonged to Josef Kolářík

The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at FCSB who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.

The dugout

A promise honoured at FCSB

Something was said to Lukáš Zima and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

122 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

27 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Octavian Popescu sends FCSB through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Octavian Popescu obliged against Pandurii. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is FCSB.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Octavian Popescu at his very best

Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FCSB.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Oleksandr Romanchuk does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

Market

The Darius Olaru talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

121 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

20 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Dinamo Bucharest take the derby

0‑2, and no way to dress it up. A derby defeat follows a supporter to work on Monday, and this one will follow him all week.

Match

Full time on the season at FCSB

Position 4 on 26 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 dugout

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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ianis Bancu to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Ivan Sergeev

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

120 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

13 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Baba Alhassan damages knee ligaments — 21 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

A brace, and Denis Drăguş takes the afternoon — 9.09

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Denis Drăguş provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Only the photograph left for Silviu Lung

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silviu Lung will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

FCSB see off Pandurii

Three points for FCSB, 3‑2 the final word against Pandurii in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton has seen enough of Persik

“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 FCSB, and 3 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Josef Kolářík

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lukáš Zima

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lukáš Zima, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Squad Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
  • Looking ahead Derby week at FCSB
  • Squad 4 FCSB players away with their countries
119 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

6 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Baba Alhassan

28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Risto Radunović, 36, rolls back the years — 7.86

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima 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.

Match

FCSB find a way past Botosani

Botosani made FCSB work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for Denis Drăguş

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Josef Kolářík is the division's best young player this month

At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. FCSB will try very hard not to make too much of it.

The dugout

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 Bancu kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

118 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

30 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Baba Alhassan

36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lukáš Zima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from David Miculescu

Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

Ivan Sergeev gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Match

FCSB and Voluntari take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Denis Drăguş

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ianis Bancu after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

117 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

23 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Baba Alhassan out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Universitatea Craiova take the points off FCSB

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Radunović 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 dugout

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 Bancu to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

No hiding place for Simon Elisor

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Elisor, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Darius Olaru gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Olaru is on it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Samuel Teles

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

116 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Baba Alhassan

56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

David Miculescu runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70

A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Ivan Sergeev, 33, rolls back the years — 8.02

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Silviu Lung is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Lukáš Zima 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.

Match

FCSB get the job done against Petrolul

A 2‑1 win over Petrolul, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

One of their own: Josef Kolářík

He is 21 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.

In brief

115 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Baba Alhassan

64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

David Miculescu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. 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 dugout

Daniel Graovac keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

No end in sight to FCSB's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FCSB has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima 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.

Match

CFR Cluj take the points off FCSB

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Daniil Kornyushin signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Kornyushin commits to FCSB for another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Daniel Bîrligea

“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.

In brief

114 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

2 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Baba Alhassan out for 72 days

72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josef Kolářík

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

João Paulo pops up at the right end — 7.97

7.97, 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 87% of the FCSB income

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.

The dugout

Samuel Teles gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Mihai Toma

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mihai Toma has come out of that comparison in the side, and FCSB have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

113 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Baba Alhassan out for 80 days

80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Samuel Teles keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to David Miculescu

A mark of 7.37, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout

Daniel Graovac gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Ofri Arad has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ianis Bancu was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the FCSB dressing room was either.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

112 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Baba Alhassan damages knee ligaments — 88 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Silviu Lung has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Halfway: FCSB sit in position 4

14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Darius Olaru has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ianis Bancu after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

111 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Baba Alhassan

95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

David Miculescu runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Terms done: Silviu Lung is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pandurii waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Josef Kolářík at 21 — 8.07

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Josef Kolářík did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Ciprian Bancu’s move to Astra falls through

The deal that would have taken Ciprian Bancu to Astra has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Match

FCSB find a way past Pandurii

Pandurii made FCSB work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Josef Kolářík

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

  • Looking ahead The neighbours are next for FCSB
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Oleksandr Romanchuk gets picked when it counts
110 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Baba Alhassan damages knee ligaments — 102 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.

Market

Ciprian Bancu agrees terms with Astra

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

Baba Alhassan: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 18 in, 8 out at FCSB

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Ivan Sergeev falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

David Miculescu in the eights

A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

David Miculescu named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. David Miculescu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

When it matters, Meriton Korenica plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

109 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Baba Alhassan out for 111 days

111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Player ratings

A brace, and David Miculescu takes the afternoon — 8.35

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Miculescu provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Real improvement from Seydou Sy at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Seydou Sy is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCSB against Voluntari

2‑3 to Voluntari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Ivan Sergeev 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at FCSB

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ianis Bancu after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

108 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

13 saves: Lukáš Zima was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Joyskim Dawa puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Mihai Toma

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCSB against Universitatea Craiova

2‑3 to Universitatea Craiova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Transfer targets

FCSB rebuffed over Toni Silić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and FCSB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Zoran Mitrov has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Denis Drăguş

Marked 8.45 — 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.

In brief

107 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and David Miculescu takes the afternoon — 8.34

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Miculescu provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Dinamo Brest for Ivan Sergeev 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.

The dugout

Simon Elisor keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

André Duarte hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The step up is real for Daniel Costa

At 20 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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ofri Arad has improved at 29, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings

One of those days for Daniel Bîrligea

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

David Miculescu the difference as FCSB beat Petrolul

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Miculescu. 3‑1 against Petrolul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief

106 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

19 days out for Samuel Teles after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Miculescu

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

The step up is real for Josef Kolářík

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.

Squad

Oleksandr Romanchuk in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Lukáš Zima signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lukáš Zima commits to FCSB for another 2 years.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCSB against CFR Cluj

0‑2 to CFR Cluj, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

João Paulo told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” João Paulo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FCSB.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ianis Bancu after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

When it matters, Meriton Korenica plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

105 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Samuel Teles out for 29 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

David Miculescu beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Seydou Sy is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Match

Denis Drăguş sends FCSB past Viitorul

It finished 2‑0, and it was Denis Drăguş’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCSB.

Player ratings

Denis Drăguş in the eights

A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Late improvement for Aymen Boutoutaou

At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

No hiding place for Zoran Mitrov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zoran Mitrov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Ianis Bancu: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

104 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

FCSB run riot against Astra

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

3 goals for Ivan Sergeev

The match ball belongs to Ivan Sergeev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Ivan Sergeev yet — 9.55

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Mihai Toma at 21 — 7.67

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mihai Toma did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Roan Wilson asks to leave FCSB

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

A new deal for Ianis Bancu

The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Mihai Toma at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mihai Toma is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Player ratings

David Miculescu beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

  • Boardroom 5 academy graduates step up at FCSB
  • The terraces The crowd has taken to Mihai Toma
  • Squad Zoran Mitrov has improved at 26, which nobody expected
103 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Pavel Gaszczyk hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Mihnea Rădulescu will not be coming to FCSB

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at FCSB is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

The step up is real for Daniel Costa

At 20 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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Ofri Arad

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Ivan Sergeev 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 dugout

Ofri Arad gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ofri Arad is on it.

The dugout

Alexandru Pantea asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Meriton Korenica question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Meriton Korenica’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

102 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

10 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Claudiu Maxim

15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Štěpán Langer hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Mihnea Rădulescu is a medical away from FCSB

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.

Squad

Real improvement from Josef Kolářík at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Josef Kolářík is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Oleksandr Romanchuk in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

FCSB baulk at the price for Ovidiu Perianu

CFR Cluj wanted more than $350.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Ofri Arad talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager makes Zoran Mitrov a promise
  • The dugout The manager comes out for Ofri Arad
  • Boardroom The FCSB board choose calm
101 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Ivan Sergeev is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Akhmat Grozny waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Squad

The knee: Claudiu Maxim out for 24 days

24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

FCSB are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Market

Alexandru Maxim hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Market

FCSB turn down Ventspils for Sergiu Man

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Transfer targets

No deal for Pedro Pinho at that price

FCSB offered $390.0K; Universitatea Craiova said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergeev 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.

Squad

FCSB are still strangers to each other

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.

In brief