The way Plamen Markov was appointed as Bulgarian national football team head coach said a lot about the state of Bulgarian football. First, Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) president Borislav Mihaylov was keen to hire a foreign coach for the team, then he started to delay the decision and in the end he made the most expected one. The 50-year-old Markov was picked by Mihaylov from a shortlist of seven coaches, two domestic and five from abroad. The decision was a surprise to no one because the BFU had already started to give previous coaches a second chance as they appointed Dimitar Penev for six months. His term finished on November 30 2007. Under his first spell as coach, Penev took the national team to the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup.
Markov’s previous leadership of the team saw Bulgaria qualify for the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal, the team’s only major tournament appearance since 1998. But Bulgaria lost all three games in Portugal and the coach decided to step down, insulted by a frivolous new offer on the last day of his contract. At that time Mihaylov was BFU vice-chairman and he was the man behind the decision to place Hristo Stoichkov in the hot seat without a single day’s experience as a head coach. But the result was more than tragic since the team failed to qualify for any of the tournaments that followed.
Three-and-a-half-years later, Mihaylov showed no big faith in Markov. Presenting the old new coach to the media, the BFU chairman revealed that he had spoken to Terry Venables, Srecko Katanec, Walter Zenga and Oleg Romantsev. “The problem with the foreign coaches was that they did not want to live in Bulgaria and there’s also financial obstacles as here they would pay 10 per cent tax which is far less than abroad, but everyone demands net money,” Mihaylov explained, thereby leaving an impression that Markov had been a low-ranked choice.
Is the new man cheaper? Yes, but he is well-paid for a Bulgarian coach and he will earn his money if the team qualify for World Cup 2010.
Markov, known as an intelligent, cultured, loyal and conservative man, said: “I am glad and thankful that Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mihailov has faith in me. This job isn’t a new one for me. I know the players and the team. There will be no major changes.”
Bulgaria play the holders Italy, the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro in their World Cup qualifying group, Group 8. The team finished behind Romania and the Netherlands in their Euro 2008 campaign, and failed to qualify for the tournament this summer. “After Italy every other team in our group has a chance to take second place,” Markov said.
If Mihaylov had done anything positive with the “coach problem” it was that the appointment had been made before the fixture meeting for Group 8, held in Sofia. The main rival for second place, Ireland, still had to choose their new coach.
The reaction of the other bosses and delegates at the meeting was one of relative satisfaction, although the general mood was that the situation with Ireland’s Croke Park and the inability of Italy to play in June next year due to their participation in the Confederations Cup had caused some difficulties. Italy coach Roberto Donadoni was satisfied: “I am very happy with the arrangement of the games because the Italian national association decided on one programme and everybody tried to help us achieve that. So for this reason I am very happy.”
Every team wanted to play the World champions at the start and at the end of the campaign, which runs from September 6 2008 to October 14 2009.
“Pre-season is very tough for the Italian players and normally the first and second international games of the season are very difficult for us. But this situation means we don’t play Ireland or Bulgaria in September,” said Donadoni.
Bulgaria will host Italy on the third date (October 11 2008) and visit Rome on the third last (September 9 2009). For Markov’s team the start is tricky, away to Montenegro, Georgia and Ireland for three of the first four games but the end is good. The Irish schedule looks more demanding, which suits Bulgaria. Markov was pleased but said the fixture list doesn’t win matches. Georgia coach Klaus Toppmoller said: “We had to make some compromises but it’s Ok. We have gone up from 105 in the world to 77, so we just want to keep going forward.”
For little Montenegro, this is their first competitive group but their chairman is the legendary ex-AC Milan midfielder Dejan Savicevic. “We are starting this as the outsiders but I hope we will not be outsiders at the end of it,” he said.
