There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Levski and Spartak 1918 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. CSKA Sofia moved on, Ryan Rodin reports back to Levski, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mateja Radonjić commits to Levski for another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edvin Kurtuluş is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Maicon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
“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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2038
Mateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.84. 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
MatchAnother one collected away from home
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Luka Mlakar at his very best
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.91 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings23 Aug 2038
Antonio Castro, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv for Dimitar Galchev 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.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Mazire Soula 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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.92 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Seth Chingwaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Radostin Stoilov decided otherwise. Botev Plovdiv had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Radostin Stoilov provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Add another name to the list: Arda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Álex Centelles. The answer from Levski has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A 4‑3 win over Botev Plovdiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edvin Kurtuluş 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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Beroe for Daniel Santos 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.
Mazire Soula was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Boardroom19 Jul 2038
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Levski
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Leandro Milito has improved at 30, 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bojidar Bodurov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Levski 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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadEdvin Kurtuluş falls out with a teammate over standards
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Sebastian Ademola has come up in conversations Levski were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Dobrudzha for Seth Chingwaro was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2038
A last season at home is what Edoardo Corvi is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Beroe for Franco Pinoni was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Levski have had the benefit of it.
Mazire Soula 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Freddie Potts has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
32 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Levski now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Seth Chingwaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Santos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadEdvin Kurtuluş falls out with a teammate over standards
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Svetoslav Vutsov 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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
429 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mazire Soula 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Santos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Levski will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Mlakar signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edvin Kurtuluş 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.
“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; Levski are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Seth Chingwaro’s negotiating for him
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Mazire Soula 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.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Seth Chingwaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christian Makoun 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebastian Ademola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Levski know it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Levski know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
492 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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 Levski know it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maicon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Svetoslav Vutsov 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Botev Plovdiv will make the call about Franco Pinoni this week. Levski have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
405 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2038
A first appearance Boris Stoyanov will want to forget — 5.74
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.74, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals in one match, Luka Mlakar on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levski and Beroe.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Spartak 1918 for Boyan Minev 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.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Mazire Soula 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 phone has started ringing about Franco Pinoni again, and this time the name on the line is Botev Plovdiv. Levski are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.06 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Arda for Sebastian Ademola was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Trimmel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Christian Makoun 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.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Mazire Soula 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 name of Sebastian Ademola has come up in conversations Levski were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.96 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Maicon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
Marked 9.34 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.80 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Dec 2037
Mateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christian Makoun provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Vasilev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Barreiro and Levski agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
Montana held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Levski answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Levski dressing room in a hurry
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.72 — 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
Marked 8.73 — 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
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Younes Idder at his very best
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Leandro Barreiro 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Botev Plovdiv kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Levski will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.96 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 against CSKA Sofia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Luka Mlakar could not do
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateja Radonjić provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Mateja Radonjić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Levski.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
Luka Mlakar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Mlakar signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateja Radonjić provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Christian Makoun 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Vasilev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Copete and Levski agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Oct 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
2‑3 to Cherno More, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Mateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.97. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Levski scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Leandro Barreiro 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.93, and 2 involvements.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Vasilev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Armstrong Oko-Flex will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Levski escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.83 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Levski has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leandro Milito is living that version at Levski, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Montana for Seth Chingwaro 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.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Svetoslav Vutsov and Levski agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levski has been clear about where Everton Bala stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Botev Vratsa spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Christian Makoun 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Vasilev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Levski scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
A brace, and Luka Mlakar takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Mlakar provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Mazire Soula 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 phone has started ringing about Franco Pinoni again, and this time the name on the line is Lokomotiv Sofia. Levski are listening politely and promising nothing.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Maicon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
The name of Franco Pinoni has come up in conversations Levski were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Levski, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Arda for Stilyan Nedyalkov 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings27 Jul 2037
Mateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and CSKA Sofia had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Levski did not stop to explain themselves.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Levski training over how hard people work
Boardroom14 academy players handed senior numbers at Levski
Player ratingsMateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stilyan Nedyalkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The phone has started ringing about Noé Verron again, and this time the name on the line is CSKA 1948. Levski are listening politely and promising nothing.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Cherno More will make the call about Franco Pinoni this week. Levski have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad29 Jun 2037
The manager has not finished forgetting Edoardo Corvi'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.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maicon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Svetoslav Vutsov 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.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Mazire Soula 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.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Levski training over how hard people work
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
98 minutes played. Markus Seim-Monsen found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and CSKA Sofia went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Christian Makoun 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
SquadMazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
157 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noé Verron will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
Sebastian Ademola 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Levski know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Christian Makoun 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.
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Pinoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Christian Makoun 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
SquadMazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Pinoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.18 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Pinoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levski the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 3, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.06 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Mateja Radonjić had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Slavia Sofia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Noé Verron reports back to Levski with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The offer from Cherno More for Boyan Minev 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 words a physio says slowly. 108 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Arda moved on, Serginho reports back to Levski, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Svetoslav Vutsov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Dobrudzha for Patrick Trimmel 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Mazire Soula 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 ratings19 Jan 2037
Mateja Radonjić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.16. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mateja Radonjić had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Botev Vratsa were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateja Radonjić provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Arda for Serginho 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Position 3, 49 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Christian Makoun 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.98 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mazire Soula was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 2‑0 win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.71 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Christian Makoun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
13 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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 ratings1 Dec 2036
Luka Mlakar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.01 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christian Makoun scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Christian Makoun 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.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Mlakar signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Christian Makoun 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
452 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.99 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Svetoslav Vutsov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Mazire Soula 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
15 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.