2024-05-01 16:21:55
I am not exempt. I can’t just leave like that. The coach of could leave today for tomorrow. There are many people behind me. There are players who believe in me, staff, medical team, administration. With these words, Nikolay Kostov announced that he would remain in the coaching position at “Levski”. For the moment.
“Do we have time with the owner Nasko Sirakov until after the holidays, when we will sit down and talk comprehensively about the vision of the club. I would like other leading figures to be present at the meeting. You have to wait for my resignation,” added the 60-year-old specialist.
At the special press conference, the convening of which reasonably heralded his retirement in view of the situation, Kostov apologized for his aggressive behavior after the loss to CSKA and pointed out 2 things that affected him.
The first is information about a conflict between him and players on the break, which was not true.
The second is an irony of the romantic style that Kostov wants to impose. It was difficult to understand, let alone implement. The coach announced that he did not want to justify himself, but for 5 months he worked with one team, and during the second 5 months after his appointment last June – with another.
In addition, in case of failures, they immediately launched aggressive attacks against the team.
“I want to say that I am sitting in front of you in a very friendly and good-willed manner so that there is no impression left in the football community that Kostov is hiding. We had a training session in the gym yesterday and I want to say that we are not hiding. I want to apologize for my behavior after the match with CSKA I was stepped on and got out of my comfort zone.
I have always tried to be careful. I am very affected by some things that happened. We collect very poor results and naturally the burden falls on the coach. I have taken enough responsibility and I stand by my words.
I was affected by the leak of information that Kostov or any of the players had conflicts at halftime. This is not true! I sit before you and refute this information. The other thing that affects me is that the game of “Levski” is being ironized. The irony of the romantic game. I want to point out to absolutely everyone that the idea for the romantic game is mine.
During my first conversations with Sirakov, I asked him if he knew what kind of football I practice. In the first five months I worked with one team, and now I work with another. For these 10 months, we cannot say that we should be very proud of the work we have done, but we are not ashamed. You yourself observed during the period in which we worked together that not everything was so bad,” began Kostov.
“There have been changes that have affected everyone’s psyche. I have not come to justify myself, but to protect the people who work with me. Behind me is the coaching staff, the medical staff, managers, administration… Naturally, people who believe In our football, let’s be objective, we have worked with two teams, and we believe that we understand this football, because from now on, it may sound like an excuse I apologize to you”, the “blue” mentor started the press conference.
“In many of the matches, we performed very successfully. We had moments when the game was superb. Did we have time with Sirakov. He is a shrewd person and always understood me. He sees further than us,” said Kostov. and then he was asked if he remains in charge of “Levski”.
“I am not released from the team. The coach cannot just get up and leave. I protect the interests of people who are connected to me – I have a coaching staff and many players who believe in me. You will wait for my resignation.
The game itself is ironized. The focus is on the game. The foundation of winning matches must be play.
In my opinion, the way our team plays increases the intelligence of our players. A player like Córdoba, who initiates our positional attacks, performs an average of 115 tactical actions. His old stats were 70-80. The reason is in the balance,” said Kostov.