The year 2008 may well go down as the zenith of Bulgar-bashing in foreign media. The British press maintained a relentless barrage of criticism about Bulgaria's poor record on crime, corruption and its failure to abide by EU stipulations. Even the case of Michael Shields, the jailed football fan convicted of the attempted murder of a barman on the Black Sea, which reached a crescendo of protest at the end of 2008, was used to bash Bulgaria's justice system. Only a young Bulgarian footballer attracted admiring attention...

A cautionary tale?
The abiding memory of 2008 will have been the European Union waving an admonishing finger at Bulgaria over corruption and crime, and Bulgaria losing about 220 million euro in the process.

Stephen Castle, writing in The Times and The International Herald Tribune, said that that the decision confirmed longstanding disquiet over Bulgaria's perceived failure to root out corruption. He described Bulgaria's case as "a cautionary tale" for those still dreaming of EU enlargement. "Alarm bells rang in Brussels after the arrest of the head of the Bulgarian roads agency for handing a 50 million euro contract to build a new highway to his brother. Since then investigations have started into 101 projects designed to modernise the country's agricultural sector but which are suspected of falling into the hands of organised crime."

Castle cited one glaring example: "In one notorious case, an agency allegedly claimed for the cost of brand new tractors for a modernisation programme but actually bought scrap vehicles from the former East Germany, pocketing the difference."

The Daily Telegraph's Bruno Waterfield noted the irony of such a "backward" country forfeiting so much money. "The Europe Union's poorest country, has set a new record by being stripped of 187 million pounds sterling in EU funding because of widespread spending irregularities, corruption and fraud linked to organised crime," he wrote.

Leo Cendrowicz, writing in Time Magazine in the summer, described the situation in Bulgaria as "dire" and went on to present a damning catalogue of the country's recent history. "Since 1990, more than 150 people in Bulgaria have been killed in contract killings linked to corruption and organised crime, but there has not been a single conviction in any of those cases. Sofia's central cemetery is dotted with marble monuments engraved with life-size portraits of underworld figures known by sinister names like the Doctor, the Russian or the Godfather."

Shields of armour
As supporters of Michael Shields - the jailed football fan convicted of attempted murder by a Bulgarian court - escalated their campaign to free him, it was perhaps easy to forget the victim, Martin Georgiev, the barman left with a crushed skull by a drunken attacker in Varna in 2005.
Whoever the perpetrator, whether Shields or another fan, Graham Sankey, who confessed to the crime but later withdrew his confession, the victim seemed to have been forgotten.

By the end of 2008, Shields had collected an impressive array of British supporters - including actors, politicians, members of the clergy, Liverpool football club and local media.

As pressure on the courts mounted to overturn UK justice secretary Jack Straw's disclaimer of responsibility for deciding Shields' fate, there seemed to be once again a whiff of animus in the British press. Lawrence Donegan summed up how many felt about the case in the UK. "My opinion is the conduct of Bulgarian police in the initial stages of the investigation was sufficiently cavalier to raise doubts about the conviction," he wrote in December.

In January 2008, during a meeting with British MEP Arlene McCarthy, President Georgi Purvanov refused to pardon Shields. Purvanov said that he had full confidence in the Bulgarian judicial system. Later in the year, however (April 23), UK newspaper Liverpool Daily Post reported that Bulgarian Justice Minister Miglena Tacheva had sent a letter to Straw saying Shield's fate now resided in British hands.

Tacheva said that there would be no further legal procedures against Shields in Bulgaria, and that the UK could therefore release him.

On December 17, a court in London ruled that it was up to Straw whether to exercise, on behalf of the monarch, an ancient royal prerogative to pardon Shields.

Fever pitch
If one Bulgarian name dominated the international sporting headlines during 2008 it had to be Dimitar Berbatov, certainly the most famous Bulgarian in the world and a standard bearer for advertisers whose good looks and charisma captivated the press.

Berbatov joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in 2006, aged 25, for a fee of 16 million euro, making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history. In 2008 Berbatov played in his first cup final for Tottenham in the Football League Cup at Wembley Stadium against Chelsea in which he scored an equalising penalty. Tottenham went on to win the game 2-1 after extra time, with Berbatov collecting his first trophy in English football.

The 2008/09 season, however, began with feverish speculation that Berbatov was about to leave White Hart Lane for Old Trafford. Early on in the transfer season Ferguson had apparently made an offer for Berbatov but Spurs were apparently reluctant to seal the deal despite their striker's expressed will to move. "I'm now in Tottenham but no one can disagree with me wanting to follow my dream," said the Bulgarian striker, quoted by the BBC in July.

Berbatov finally completed a move to Manchester United on a four-year contract on September 1 2008 for a fee of about 30.75 million pounds sterling. He scored his first league goal, for United, with the third goal in the 4-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion on October 18 2008.

On his return to White Hart Lane to play for Manchester United on December 13, Berbatov was booed by Spurs fans during a goalless draw.

For all his achievements in Britain, Bertavov's performances for the national side remained more subdued. During Bulgaria's 6-1 thrashing by Serbia in a friendly match in Belgrade, Berbatov, who left the pitch in the 30th minute, was viciously criticised by Bulgarian media who felt that, as the side's captain, he should have done more to maintain his side's morale.