Moonshine

FK Csíkszereda 2025-26 July Not exactly a thrilling start to the month. The draw at home to Otelul Galati was disappointing - we ought to have won, but Szilard Veres' red crd after 39 minutes rather put paid to that... Start as you mean to finish - in eleventh place...

FK Csíkszereda 2025-6 Pre-Season Still predicted to struggle. And, frankly, I'll be happy to stay ahead of the three promoted teams... Squad: We managed, at the end of the season, to pin Gabor Makrai down to a new contract, which is very helpful after his 15 goals last season. Otherwise, the squad has a ridiculous amount of good GKs and not a lot else of note. We continue to struggle at full back. Transfers: 15 players left on a free. No-one of note, though. Finances: TV money is helpful, but we are losing money. Alexandru Ureche is contract until 2028, but will be sold in 2027 - two years time - and hopefully help out on the money front. I turned down £1m from Dinamo Bucuresti for him this year.

Champions Around the World - 24/25 Top Ten European Leagues: 1. English Premier League: Man City (x5) 2. Spanish La Liga: Real Madrid 3. German Bundesliga: Bayern (x14) 4. Italian Serie A: Milan (x2) 5. French Ligue 1: PSG (x4) 6. Dutch Eredivisie: PSV Eidnhoven 7. Liga Portugal: Benfica 8. Belgian Jupiler Pro League: Aderlecht (x2) 9. Turkish Super Lig: Galatasaray 10. Scottish Premiership: Rangers (x2) 26. Romanian SuperLiga: CFR Cluj Champions League: PSG 2-0 Man City (Fussball Arena Munchen, Munchen, Germany) Europa League: Feyenoord 2-1 Braga (San Mames, Bilbao, Spain) Conference League: Lyon 0-3 West Ham (Stadion Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland) NXGN: Roony Bardghji, Napoli FIFA Best: Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid

FK Csíkszereda 2024/25 End of Season Roundup Predicted Position: 16th (/16) Final Position: 11th (5th in the Relegation Group) Squad: End of Season: Revenue & Merchandise: £426k sponsorship; N/A shirts sold Club Awards: Records Broken: Best Eleven: 2024/25 Eleven: Szilard Gyenge D. Vita (HG) Claudiu Apro Alexandru Ureche B. Ciszer (HG) "Geezer" Darazs (24b) Szilard Veres Botond Szondi R. Goia (24d) Bogdan Rotar Gabor Makrai

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 May In the end we stayed up with a game to spare - hurrah! - so I played a complete kids team, and got thrashed. But another season in the league - and with some great new players. Relegation Group:

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 April Turns out that if you give us a group of our peers - ie, a relegation group - we're not terrible... Three wins, two draws and a loss, with our new super goalie, isn't half bad. We're five points from the relegation playoffs, with three to play. That youth intake created a couple of instant records:#

FK Csíkszereda 2024/25 Youth Intake Woof. Last year we had 8x 5* PA player - this year, only 7. But wow Imre Kovacs (25a) is very good. A shame he's a GK really, given we have a million of them (including Gergo Ferago, we now have five five-star goalkeepers. None of whom look to have any chance of making it if Imre Kovacs (25a) lives up to his potential...

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 March Despite being remarkably boring end to the regular season, I'm quite pleased with it, if only because of the 0-0 draw at home to top-of-the-table UTA Arad, complete with a player of the match performance from youth prospect Gergo Varga (24a) - 7 saves, an xGA of 1.87, and a rating of 8.1. Its a rather lovely surprise to see my goal difference wiped out in the relegation stage. Our points have been, as you can see, halved - and with 9 games, we might have a chance of staying up right now...

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 February After eleven games without a win, a home match against fellow promoted club, and bottom of the table, CSC Selimbar was just what the doctor ordered - and a 6-1 thrashing showed that, while we might be a bit crap, there are a couple of teams that are even more crap than us... Top scorer Gabor Makrai scored a hattrick, taking him to 15 goals in 25 games. Sadly he won't sign a new contract, and will be leaving in the Summer. Alongside Makrai, R.Goia (24d) scored a couple of goals - he's looking very good, and is now valued at between £60k-£1.6m. We should have beaten Voluntari in the next game, out X-Ging them by 1.98 to 0.42, before actually beating Dinamo Buceresti who now lie just two points above us, with two games of the regular season to play. Meantime, we were offered a third job, following Botasani and Dinamo Bucuresti - this time in Turkey. Oh, and a look at R. Goia (24d)

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 January It's all going rather pear shaped...

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 December On the positive side, we didn't lose three out of our four matches this month. On the negative side, we haven't won in seven games... Our October form has, however, kept us us seven points from the bottom two. We will enter the relegation group with half the points we finish the general phase with, so if I can stay 6+ points ahead of Botosani that will be great. Selimbar look doomed regardless, and I'd love to avoid the relegation playoffs (for 13th and 14th) if at all possible...

Excellent thinking. One logo pack coming right up!

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 November Less noice...

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 October Noice Pretty decent home form that... A late, late winner from Gabor Makrai against Voluntari sparked a bit a of a run for him, with six goals in the month. The demolition of Universitatea Cluj was an anomaly, yes, but mighty. Without the cup, and with only four international call-ups, we've been fitter than most others. I've no idea what happened against Dinamo Bucuresti mind you... We're up to an extremely respectible 10th place... After 30 games, the league splits - the top 6 go into a champions group, with the rest of the league in a relegation group. everyone in those groups gets half the points, and plays everyone else (twice in the championship group...). To be four points off that is a bit silly.

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 September Just the two league games this month - one against fellow Hungaro-Romanians Sepsi, which we sadly lost, but the win against our fellow promoted side Selimbar was vital - R. Goia (24d)'s second of the season, and last year's player of the year in Bogdan Rotar getting us into double figures points-wise... In the Cupa Romanei we failed at the first hurdle again - a second team squad losing away at Politehnica Iasi of Liga II, and we don't make the group stages. In a way I'm OK with this; in another, that's 5 games I could have (and would have) played the kids in... In the meantime, R. Goia (24d) is wanted by Nantes in Ligue 1. He must be pretty bloody good...

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 August Hey! We not only won a game - two in fact! - but we're also not last! Hooray! I mean, we're still not very good, but we never were for this level... the goals is simply to stay up, while giving minutes to the likes of R. Goia (24d) to improve them, without getting relegated.

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 July Yup, definitely going to struggle... After some friendlies (not a lot of pre-season in Romania it seems!), we didn't exactly cover ourselves in glory. On the positive side, we've scored in our last ten matches?

FK Csíkszereda 2024-25 Pre-Season So, we're going to struggle in the SuperLiga it seems... Rather a lot. Squad: With my loanees departing, alongside Salvator Marrone, the squad sudddenly seems quite bare. On the positive side that might lead to some great chances for the youngsters at this level. On the negative side, I fear I might go down... The full backs in particular seem shonky at best. Transfers: Some deadwood out, and in come the three homegrown players I had on loan last season, to shore up the squad. Finances: Plenty of cash in the bank at least! And we're spending bugger all. We will, however, lose £23k a month on our stadium - with promotion, the Municipal is no longer big enough to match the league rules. Instead, we'll be renting from our close Hungarian friends Sepsi OSK, 60km away.

Euro 2024 Hosts: Germany; Holders: Italy Did not Qualify: Belgium, Denmark Out in Groups: Netherlands, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Slovenia, Romania, Czechia Second Round: Austria 0-1 Germany England 2-0 Sweden Serbia 1-2 Italy Turkiye 2-3 Croatia Switzerland 1-0 Scotland Iceland 1p-1 Portugal Poland 0-2 Ukraine Spain 1-0 France Quarter Final: Switzerland 2-0 Iceland Italy 1-2 Germany Croatia 1-3 England Ukraine 1e-0 Spain Semi-Final: Switzerland 1-3 Germany England 5-1 Ukraine Final: Germany 1-0 England

Champions Around the World Top Ten European Leagues: 1. English Premier League: Man City (x4) 2. Spanish La Liga: Barcelona 3. German Bundesliga: Bayern (x13) 4. Italian Serie A: Milan 5. French Ligue 1: PSG (x3) 6. Dutch Eredivisie: Ajax 7. Liga Portugal: Porto 8. Belgian Jupiler Pro League: Aderlecht 9. Scottish Premiership: Rangers 10. Austrian Bundesliga: Red Bull Salzburg (x12) 25. Romanian SuperLiga: Universitatea Craiova Champions League: Inter 1-2 Real Madrid (Wembley, London, England) Europa League: Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Liverpool (Dublin Arena, Dublin, Ireland) Conference League: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Fiorentina (AEK Arena, Athens, Greece) NXGN: Evan Ferguson, Brighton FIFA Best: Erling Haaland, Manchester City

FK Csíkszereda End of Season Roundup Predicted Position: 12th Final Position: 1st Squad: End of Season: Revenue & Merchandise: £354k sponsorship; 245 shirts sold Club Awards: Records Broken: Best Eleven: Szilard Gyenge Salvatore Marrone Claudiu Apro Alexandru Ureche B. Ciszer (HG) Balint Szabo Szilard Veres Botond Szondi Benjamin Babati Bogdan Rotar Gabor Makrai

FK Csíkszereda May 2023 That's how to win a legaue. Five games, 17 goals, four wins, and some truly thumping performances. We were brilliant, and thoroughly desrved it.

FK Csíkszereda March/April 2023 We are top of the league, say we are top of the league! Sexy sexy first five games in the Champions Playoffs, including a first two goals for Robert Goia (24d) on his second start for the club. He's been popped straight into the first team squad, sitting on the bench and consistently coming on (sadly when I rewarded his two late goals with a start against Selimbar we lost...).

FK Csíkszereda Youth Intake Unsurprisingly really quite good... 8 x 5* PA players, 4 x 4.5* PA players. It being the first season, I've signed the lot of them. That said, if we look at their determination levels, they might not develop brilliantly... Although I do like how many of them have a Hungarian second nationality!