CSKA Sofia football club started its training camp ahead of the spring half of the season without a head coach following the departure of Lyuboslav Penev on January 13 2010. Adalbert Zafirov was appointed interim head coach, Bulgarian media reported.

Penev had submitted his resignation, which was accepted by the club's managing board, Dnevnik daily said. Penev's coaching staff was also sacked.

The newspaper said that the coach, a prolific striker in his two spells with the club and for a short time even its owner, refused to take a substantial pay cut. CSKA club director Ventsislav Zhivkov said that Penev was paid 50 000 leva a month and was offered a new contract scaling down his paycheck to 20 000 leva, which Penev refused.

"Everybody's salaries in the club, from the youth academy coaching staff, onto administration, and the staff at the Pancharevo sports base amounts to a total of about 80 000 leva, while Penev alone was paid 50 000 leva monthly. Is that normal?" Zhivkov was quoted as saying by Dnevnik

"Such abnormal salaries were an exception and they will not occur again in this club again," he added.

Penev is expected to be replaced by Serbian coach Miodrag Jesic, now in charge of Libyan side Al-Ittihad Tripoli. The players were due to report for training camp on January 12, but the club postponed the start of the camp.

New players at include midfielder Boris Galchev, signed from Pirin Blagoevgrad, Romanian reinforcements Florentin Petre and Daniel Pancu, as well as Macedonian defender Igor Mitreski. CSKA are also expected to sign the services of Dimitar Iliev from Lokomotiv Plovdiv, but the transfer of Dimo Atanassov from Lokomotiv Sofia appears to have stalled.