All Aboard the Bulgarian Express...

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PRE-SEASON 2014/15:

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New Assistant Manager Appointed:

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Transfer News:

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Gael Nlundulu to Grasshoppers - 2 Million

I did all I could to keep Nlundulu at the club with activating his contract extension and then offering him a new one just after. But once I rejected an initial offer for him, he became unhappy and wanted to leave the club. A shame as I felt he could've become one of our most important players and hoped he would gain Bulgarian nationality too.

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Momchil Tsvetanov joins from Litex - 600k (Record Signing)

With the departure of Nlundulu, it brought in extra transfer money and as Sebastian Pardo is entering the last year on his contract, I needed to find another left sided attacking player who could excite the fans like he has been doing. Though Tsvetanov joins us from a rival club, I'm sure the record transfer fee we've splashed out will be money well spent over the coming seasons.

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Daniel Georgiev joins from Cherno More - 35k

We have such a young midfield at the moment, that I need to bring in one or two players with more experience and Daniel has exactly the attributes we are looking for.

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Emiliano Sala joins from Bordeaux - Season Loan

Edisson Jordanov joins from Dortmund - Season Loan

Champions League Draw:

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We will Play Dinamo Tbilisi in the second qualifying round

Season Expectations:

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Title Odds:

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​
 
JULY 2014:

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Season Ticket News:

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Injury News:

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Momchil Tsvetanov - Pulled Hamstring - Out for 4 weeks

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Georgi Pashov - Strained Knee Ligaments - out for 2 months

Transfer News:

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Georgi Sarmov joins from Botev Plovdiv - 500k

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Chris Gadi joins from Lokomotiv Plovdiv - 800k (Record Signing)

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Luc Matutu to Dundee United - 150k

Youth Facilities Development:

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Champions League Draw:

We've been drawn against Maccabi Haifa in the third qualifying round

Matches:

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Finances:

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League Table:

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Summary:

What a hectic month we faced in July. Following a comfortable friendly win against Belchatow, it was the Bulgarian Super Cup against Ludogorets, which we won in a convincing manner. Then before our Champions League opener against Dinamo Tbilisi, we faced Vranov in another pre-season game and this resulted in a fine victory.
We progressed through to the third qualifying round of the Champions League as we beat Dinamo Tbilisi 7-3 on aggregate to set up a two legged tie with Maccabi Haifa.
Our league form suffered slightly with one win from our opening two matches, though the win was against Ludogorets again, our hard work was undone as we were beaten easily by early league leaders Botev Plovdiv.
​
 
AUGUST 2014:

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Injury News:

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Georgi Sarmov - Pulled Hamstring - Out for 4 weeks

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Georgi Vasilev - Pulled Hamstring - Out for 4 weeks

Transfer News:

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Koby Arthur joins from Birmingham City - 600k

I was on the lookout for a young talented striker and was delighted to have secured the signing of Koby. He will be tutored by Afonso Alves, but will also receive game time in the cup competitions and when Alves needs a rest. Currently Koby has been called upto the Ghanaian Under 21s, so maybe there is a chance I could turn him into a Bulgarian in the next 3 years.

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Asen Georgiev joins from Lokomotiv Plovdiv - 375k

Once I saw Asen was on the transfer list, I had to move quickly to secure his signature. The Bulgarian Under 21 defender has already put in a couple of top performances and I'm sure soon he'll be pushing for his first senior call up.

These two deals will be my last foray into the transfer market, as I know feel I have a squad capable of competing on all fronts. Of course if a top target becomes available at the right price this might change or a long term injury, but for now my transfer dealings will stop.

International Call Ups:

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Finances:

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Champions League Money:

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Following our exit from the Champions League at the hands of Celtic, we still received a nice lump sum of money and better news was that we went straight into the Europa League group stages.

Europa League Group Draw:

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Injury News:

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Afonso Alves - Thigh Strain - Out for 3 weeks

Transfer News:

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Sebastian Pardo to Goverla - 16k

The fans, like myself, were disappointed that Pardo has left the club especially after a superb single season for us last year. But with us only being allowed 3 foreign players and with Sebastian's age, he was taking up one of those spots, so with his contract due to end in the summer I cashed in on him for a small fee.

Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

Another very busy month with Champions League and domestic league fixtures. After seeing of Maccabi Haifa, we were drawn against Scottish giants Celtic in the Champions League playoff round. And despite holding a small lead from the first league, unfortunately Celtic took advantage of our tired legs and knocked us out after extra time.
Our league form picked up with wins over Beroe, Dunav 2010 and Slavia Sofia, as well as picking up a hrd earned point against CSKA Sofia. Unfortunately our only loss was against Levski and it was a performance that let our fans down and something that will have to be rectified next time we play them.
​
 
SEPTEMBER 2014:

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Transfer News:

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Munir El Haddadi joins from Barcelona 'B' - 95k

I thought my spending spree had ended, but when I saw Mounir was keen on moving to us from Barcelona 'B' and for a bargain price, it was a no-brainer to add him to the squad. He will join us on January 1st 2015, and in the meantime will hopefully continue to develop in Spain.

International Call Ups:

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Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

A brilliant month by the lads as their performances have been superb., none more so than a superb win against Hull City in our opening game of the Europa group stage. This was then followed up with a excellent win against Litex in the league. The squad are also looking more accustom to playing in Europe then quickly followed by a domestic game which will bode well for the future. With our involvement in Europe, the clubs finances are in a very healthy state and that's despite me spending around 3 million on new players, though we did recoup just over 2.5 million on player sales.
​
 
OCTOBER 2014:

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Injury News:

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Koby Arthur - Back Strain - Out for 5 weeks

Finances:

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Matches:

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Europa League - Group F table:

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League Table:

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Summary:

Our league form has dramatically improved as we return to the top of the league following two successive wins. Unfortunately though after a great start in the Europa League, we were brought down to earth with a defeat to Sparta Prague and a trouncing by Shakhtar, which leaves us 3rd at the halfway stage.
​
 
NOVEMBER 2014:

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Job Offer:

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International Call Ups:

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Injury News:

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Georgi Sarmov - Pulled Hamstring - Out for 4 weeks

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Marko Randjelovic - Twisted Knee - Out for 3 weeks

Finances:

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Matches:

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Europa League Group F

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League Table:

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Summary:

An unbeaten month in the league sees us stretch our lead at the top to 5 points after impressive wins against Beroe and Botev Plovdiv. We put up a great spirited fight against Shakhtar in game 4 of our Europa League campaign, but lost to a late goal meaning we had to get a win against Hull the following the week. That win did come along, thanks to a Afonso Alves strike to give us a huge 3 points in the race for second place. We now have to beat Sparta Prague at home to qualify for the second round, which would be an amazing feat if we achieve it.
​
 
Finances and league form are both looking very well! Shame about the loss to Shakhtar but you can't win them all - hopefully you can pick up three points against Sparta Prague.
 
JasonM said:
Finances and league form are both looking very well! Shame about the loss to Shakhtar but you can't win them all - hopefully you can pick up three points against Sparta Prague.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mate. Yeah delighted with how finances are looking, hopefully with more coming into the club, we can increase the wage budget and attract one or two bigger name players. Next update is on it's way, included is the Sparta Prague game!!!!! :P
 
DECEMBER 2014

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Finances:

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Matches:

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Europa League Group F Table:

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League Table:

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Summary:

Well it wasn't to be, we conceded an 83rd minute equaliser against Sparta Prague to end our dream of qualifying for the 1st round knockout stage. But we can come away with our heads held high after a very pleasing debut campaign in Europe since I became manager.
In league matters, we are top by two points, following a derby win over CSKA Sofia, but a very disapointing loss versus Levski, which probably was the wrong time to play them as we'd just played the Prague game. We're safely through to the next round of the cup, though we did receive a scare from Haskovo. After winning the 1st leg comfortably, I decided to rest several key players for the 2nd game and we in the end scraped through on aggregate.
Up next is the winter break, where we have a couple of friendlies and I will be playing our fringe players and hot prospects from the U19s, as I want my regular first team players to have a well earned rest.
​
 
JANUARY 2015:

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Training Facilities Upgraded:

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Injury News:

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Chris Gadi - Twisted Knee - Out for 3 weeks

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Iliyan Kapitanov - Fractured Arm - Out for 5 weeks

Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

I used our winter break to give some of our fringe players and youngsters some game time and also to introduce Mounir El Haddadi to the first team. El Haddadi didn't disappoint as he bagged 4 goals in 4 friendly games, then scored on his debut in our league win over Dunav 2010.
It's a huge blow to lose both our right wingers, especially Chris Gadi who has been in fine form, scoring 10 goals since he joined us.
As we approach the stage of the season where the league gets split, I haven't been offered a new contract yet and with my contract up at the end of the season, I was hoping a new offer would've been on the table by now.
​
 
FEBRUARY 2015:

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Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

I'm not very happy with how we ended the month, as we dropped 5 points. Two of them were against bottom of the table Botev Vratsa, who came from 2 goals down to grab a point, then followed a really poor performance as we lost to second place Ludogorets, which allowed them to close the gap on us at the top. We must now keep our concentration for the remaining 8 games to ensure we lift the title for the second consecutive year.
​
 
MARCH 2015:

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Injury News:

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Chris Gadi - Strained Knee Ligaments - Out for 2 months

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Koby Arthur - Pulled Hamstring - Out for 4 weeks

International Call Ups:

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Youth Intake:

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A poor intake this year, so hopefully once our training and youth training facilities are improved we will start to produce better youth players.

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Yaroslav Danov - ST

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Lachezar Vasilev - GK

Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

After a dreadful opening game in the month, we got back on form and went on a small unbeaten run of game, which has given us a 5 point lead at the top of the table. We progressed through to the semi final of the cup, where we'll play our bogey team, Ludogorets, who knocked us out the competition at the same stage last season.
Next month will provide a stern test, not only with the semi final, but with a league game against the same opposition, it looks like the league will go down to the final month again.
​
 
APRIL 2015:

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New Deal:

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With three months left of my contract I did begin to wonder if I was going to get it renewed, but the board didn't disappoint me and offered me a 2 year deal worth 1k a week, a huge pay rise of £75, haha.

Injury News:

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Veselin Notev - Hernia - Out for 6 weeks

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Edisson Jordanov - Fractured Wrist - Out for 2 months

Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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Summary:

I'm not sure where to start as this month had a good and bad side to it. First the bad news and we dropped 5 points in the league as we drew with Cherno More and annoyingly lost to Ludogorets who closed the gap at the top to 3 points with 4 games left to play. But the good news is that we smashed Ludogorets in the semi final of the cup, so we will play in the final against Botev Plovdiv next month.
The month of May will be my biggest challenge to date, as we look to win both the cup and league in that month, and with tough games to come, we can't afford anymore slip ups.
​
 
MAY 2015:

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Finances:

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Matches:

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League Table:

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CHAMPIONS!!

Summary:

The lads performances this month were of the highest order, as we clinched the league title for the second season running and also lifted the Bulgarian Cup too. Though we didn't manage to beat last seasons' points tally, we did have more games this year due to our involvement in Europe. But my aim is to keep building and developing this squad to beat records we've set the previous year and next season will be no different.

Hall of Fame:

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By winning the double this year I entered into the top 10 of the Bulgarian hall of fame, but being number 10 isn't good enough for me, my aim is to reach the number 1 spot, but I still have a way to go to overhaul Krum Milev who won 11 league titles with CSKA Sofia.

Facilities Upgraded:

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Team of the Season:

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Bulgarian Players' Young Player of the Season Award:

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Bulgarian Players' Manager of the Season Award:

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*** Next Update - End of Season News ***
​
 
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END OF SEASON REVIEW 2014/15:

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Squad Stats:

Stupidly forgot to save last seasons squad stats - Apologies

Best Eleven:

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Overall Best Eleven:

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Managers' Player of the Season:

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Afonso Alves - I have to give it to Alves, who despite his age, he was superb for us and scored many vital goals to fire us to the league and cup double.

Fans' Player of the Season:

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Georgi Vasilev - For a young lad to perform as consistently as he did, he thoroughly deserves this award and the club will expect big things from Georgi next season and beyond.

Bulgarian 'A' League Player Stats:

Forgot to save these too, must've been the thunder and lightning that made me lose my concentration - Sorry guys!

Bulgarian Team of the Season:

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Bulgarian Club Rep Rankings:

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European Competition Rankings:

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European Club Rankings:

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Summary:

Fantastic news that the club has risen well over 250 places to be ranked 209th in Europe, while our league reputation stays the same. There will be some major transfer news happening over the summer, as I'm very keen to strengthen the squad and make sure we perform more consistently in all competitions. I'm targeting building a young talented squad mainly of Bulgarians(if possible) or players that can take on the nationality in a couple of years, with a view to hopefully signing one or two well known players.
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TRANSFER NEWS:

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Players In:

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Peter Patev joins from Litex - £250k

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Plamen Krumov joins from Levski - £550k

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Milen Gamakov joins from Chernomorets - £300k

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Edenilson joins from Cherno More - 600k

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Naby Sarr joins from Lyon - Season Loan

Players Out:

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Marko Randjelovic to M.Tel-Aviv - 500k

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Diego to Sporting - 950k

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Georgi Pashov to APOEL - 1 Million

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Michael Tawiah to Al-Ittihad - 600k

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Afonso Alves to Pumas - 200k

Summary:

I guess the big transfer story is Afonso Alves leaving the club. I thought that at 34 years old he was starting to drop down some vital statistics and once the offer came in that met his buy out clause, I left it up to him to decide what he wanted to do and his choice was to leave the club. Randjelovic and Tawiah who were regulars in the side last year received offers that I felt the club couldn't turn down and I hope I can replace the players that have left with some very good signings.
The signing of Milen Gamakov is the one that currently excites me the most, as he's only 21 years old and already looks a top class player. With Georgi Pashov leaving and Kostadin Stoyanov moving to Al-Ittihad at the end of this season, I moved to sign both Plamen Kramov as first choice right back, who will add some experience to the defence and Peter Patev who has joined as back up.
This isn't the end of my spending, but I'm making sure who I bring into the club will either benefit the starting eleven straight away, will be an important player in the next couple of years or who can tutor some of our young players and still play an integral part in the squad.
​
 
Bulgarian National Team - 2014/15:

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Current European Championship Qualifying Table - Group D:

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World Cup 2018 Qualifying Group:

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Summary:

Again not much to comment on just yet, apart from we stand a chance of qualifying for the Euro's in 2016 as we currently sit 3rd in the group.
We have also made a slight improvement on our ranking as we move up three places to 59th. This will hopefully improve as we are in a relative easy World Cup qualifying group with only Germany the only side that will cause us a huge problem.
​
 
JULY 2015:

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Title Odds:

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Champions League Draw - 2nd Qualifying Round:

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Season Ticket News:

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Transfer News:

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Georgi Sarmov to Al-Hilal - 800k

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Valeri Bojinov joins from Levski - 800k

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Viktor Genev joins from Slavia Sofia - 600k

Injury News:

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Viktor Genev - Back Strain - Out for 5 weeks

Finances:

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Matches:

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Champions League Draw - 3rd Round Qualifying:

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Summary:

We only had one pre-season friendly before our European campaign started and all I can say is 'WOW', we have been superb this month and playing probably the best football so far of my reign. We are currently on course to match last seasons achievement of reaching the 4th round qualifying, as we thrashed Ferencvaros 8-2 on aggregate and we currently lead Maribor 1-0 after the 1st leg.
In terms of signings, I bought Valeri Bojinov as I was hoping signing a Bulgarian legend it may increase some interest in the club via shirt sales etc, but it hasn't so far and though 800k is a lot for someone nearing the end of his playing days, he'll be vital in tutoring Koby Arthur and I'm sure will play a big part in our season. Finally I had planned to break the million pound barrier and sign a top defender, but I delayed and his value soared to well over 5 million pounds and his wages went up to 10k a week, something we can't currently afford. So with that disappointment I brought in Viktor Genev, who admittedly isn't as good as my first choice target, but I have confidence in him to still produce high performances alongside Asen Georgiev.
​
 
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