Link to Part I
Link to Part II
Link to Part III
Link to Part IV
A new leader
With the club still reeling from a heartbreaking defeat in the playoffs at the end of the previous season, Hebar are dealt a further blow after First League side Chernomore activate an old (and far too low) release clause in Ivaylo Lazarov's contract. A paltry £32,000 is all it took for our club captain to be prised away from us.
Lazarov also leaves a hole in the middle of the park too, and with youngsters Milen Nikolov and Stoyan Sotirov both capable as a Mezzala, I decide to slightly modify my 4-4-2 to feature a Mezzala on the left side of my central pair rather than the Box to Box role I'd been pairing my Ball Winning Midfielder with for the past two years. I felt uneasy though having just four players who could play centre midfield though, especially with two of them being so young, so for the first time in my career, dipped into my allocated transfer budget to spend £25,000 on Litex Mezzala Tsvetoslav Petrov.
Aside from that, the transfer window was rather quiet, goalkeeper Aleksandar Lyubenov departing for Romanians FC Hermannstadt after losing his place to Nikolay Krastev, with fifth choice forward Aleksandar Dimitrov and a few coveted youth prospects also departing. We did manage to retain loanees Radislav Marinov and Tomislav Papazov, whilst Mario Voynov returning to his club; I opted to promote youth full back Kiril Bachev as the backup right back, whilst also bringing in Croatian Nediljko Matas to try and add consistency at left back after last years shenanigans.
An underwhelming start
Though the board have made it clear they're content to see us challenge for promotion, last seasons anguish means that to me only one thing is acceptable - to exorcise last years demons and seal automatic promotion with little drama.
It feels as though we're off to a good start with a resounding 3-0 thumping of Tsarko selo and when we take the lead just 5 minutes into our second game, at home to newly promoted Obirishte, I'm feeling confident until debutant Kiril Bachev is dismissed for an outrageous high tackle, the visitors sealing a dramatic equaliser with 2 minutes to go.
The rest of the summer doesn't see us fare any better, goalless draws with Neftochimic and another newly promoted side Dunav Ruse sandwich a 1-0 defeat away to promotion rivals Etar; just 5 points from our opening 5.
A tale of two penalty shoot outs
Away from our poor start in the league, we have a chance at a distraction in the cup, a routine win over Chernomorets Balchik in the preliminary round leads to a First Round tie at home to Slavia Sofia and after the tie ends 1-1, a trip of saved from cup goalkeeper Spas Videv sends us through to the Second Round for the first time in my managerial reign 3-0 on penalties.
Next up comes a trip to Montana. We hold on resolutely through 120 minutes against the bigger side to take it to another shoot out but this time out luck is not to be repeated - their goalkeeper twice denying us as we lose 4-1 in the shoot out.
Keeping it solid at the back
Meanwhile, our good performances in the cup have managed to prompt a turnaround in the league with September seeing us take 10 points from a possible 12 with a 0-0 draw with Lokomotiv Gorna and wins over Ludogorets II, Kariana and Dobrudzha, the latter game seeing a 95th minute winner from Todor Chavorski. Our last fixture before the October international break sees us draw 0-0 with recently relegated Sportist Svoge.
After the break, our fixture list sees us travel away from home with two games in 4 days against the 1st and 2nd placed teams in the division. In the first, a second half header from Bilal Bari sees us beat Pirin Blagoevgrad 1-0, with the scoreline the same 4 days later as we beat Slavia Sofia, Zhivko Petkov rolling back the years this time.
With the Qatar 2022 World Cup on the horizon, our winter break comes a little earlier and we do our best to ensure we go into it in the best form possible, with goalless draws against Spartak Pleven and Litex Lovech amongst victories over Strumska slava, Dobrudzha (again) and Yantra Gabrovo.
In fact our record going into the winter break is quite remarkable - only Etar beating us so far and only 4 goals conceded in 17 Second League fixtures.
An unexpected offer
With my Hebar side doing so well in the league - only Pirin Blagoevgrad are performing better than us at the halfway stage - my stock has risen to the point where a few clubs from around Europe try to tempt me to leave my post - firstly Romanian Second League side Ripensia TimiÅŸoara are turned down, as are Polish stugglers Lechia Gdansk. But suddenly an offer from a much bigger team catches my eye - Croatia's second biggest club Rijeka offer me an opportunity to improve my stature in the game.
During the interview, Rijeka give me the option to see out the rest of my season at Hebar if I'll join them in the summer. It's the olive branch that eventually sways me to sign a 2-year contract with the Croatians - and as soon as I do the reality of the situation hits me hard.
This season really is now or never for me to get Hebar Pazardzhik into the promised land.
A very undramatic finale
My focus now is solely on securing one of the two automatic promotion slots we share with Pirin Blagoevgrad in my final 17 games at the club. One negative element of the agreement between myself in Rijeka is that I no longer have any say in the transfer market, and a young winger Georgi Georgiev I had my eye on, and actually scored twice in his club debut and only game for Hebar, is sold for £40,000 to Lokomotiv Plovdiv.
Back on the pitch, we restart the season with a February in which we gain 13 points from a possible 15, a 4-1 thumping of Spartak Pleven a particular highlight. By this point we've pulled away from the chasing pack, both ourselves and Pirin Blagoevgrad 10 points clear of Slavia Sofia and surprise chasers Kariana.
After a 1-1 draw with Strumska slava at the start of March, our next fixture could mean the difference between putting clear daylight between ourselves and Kariana, or inviting them to try to chase us down. The game is a tense and tight affair but we are rewarded late on as Bogomil Bozhurkin scores an 88th minute winner to see off the challengers. It's agiant weight off our shoulders and our next three games see a 1-1 draw with Lokomotiv Gorna sandwiched between thumpings of Yantra Gabrovo and Dunav Ruse.
April is a much more nervy affair, despite the advantage we have. 1-1 draws with both Neftochimic and Slavia Sofia precede our title showdown with Pirin Blagoevgrad. With Tsvetelin Tonev suspended, I use the game as an opportunity to blood another future prodigy, right winger Atanas Ivanov. He plays fairly well in his debut match though in a fashion true to my reign at Hebar, the game finishes goalless, our 7th and final 0-0 of the campaign.
Our final game of April sees us travel to Ludogorets II, and with an opportunity to seal promotion with a win, we are hampered by yet another draw, with the game sullied late on as another debutant, Petar Markov, is dismissed for a wild tackle in midfield with 2 minutes to go.
May 6th rolls around and our opponents are the only side to have beaten us so far - Etar. The game is tense but Tsvetelin Tonev seals the winner on the stroke of half time, and our promotion with it.
Now the only thing to sort out is the title. Our trip to Litex Lovech sees Atanas Ivanov sent off early on in just his third appearance. With this our third red card, and all from youngsters in their first three professional games (Balchev and Markov both sent off on their debuts), it's clear that my successor needs to have a word with the Under 19s coach to control the tempers of our violent kids. It doesn't matter in the end though, Bilal Bari with the late winner and the title is secured 8 days later with two Zhivko Petkov goals against bottom side Maritsa.
The final table
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Just one defeat and 14 goals conceded sees us storm to promotion alongside Pirin Blagoevgrad.
The team
https://preview.redd.it/ci9tis3y0o971.png?width=1262&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a2e5be81579c2a4c732e4ecde8a6a31ea370f74
GK - Nikolay Krastev - His first full season after last year's winter signing, Krastev kept clean sheets in over half of his appearances, and was one of the stars of the campaign.
RB - Zhivko Hadzhiev - 3 of last year's back 4 feature here, with Hadzhiev proving solid yet again throughout the season.
CB - Tomislav Papazov - One of the key challenges going into this season was finding a way to replace Papazov after his sale to Romanian giant FCSB - in the end, we didn't need to as we managed to agree a one-year extension to his loan deal.
CB - Ivaylo Todorov - The resigning of Papazov was also good news for long-time partner Todorov, who contributed 4 goals in his 31 appearances as well as providing solidity at the back.
LB - Nediljko Matas - The Croatian left back signed on loan for a year from HNK Gorica, and provided the consistency we lacked over the last two seasons, chipping in with 4 assists.
RM - Tsvetelin Tonev - Though Tonev's output was slightly less than prior seasons - 3 goals and just 2 assists - it was his third goal of the season that managed to seal our promotion and write his name into club folklore.
CM - Zhak Pehlivanov - Another solid season for our midfield enforcer, Pehlivanov adapted well to having to deal with a new partner after Ivaylo Lazarov's move to Chernomore.
CM - Stoyan Sotirov - One of three Mezzala's over the course of the season, Sotirov scored 1 and created 3 in his 8 starts and 21 appearances overall, this his first full season as a first team member.
LM - Martin Valchinov - Our new club captain did not disappoint as he stepped into Ivaylo Lazarov's role. A makeshift left back last season, Valchinov reclaimed his favoured left midfield spot and repaid my faith in him with 5 goals.
TM - Bilal Bari - Whilst not quite having the same return as last season, Bilal Bari chipped in with 6 goals and 5 man of the match awards as the majority of them were game winning goals, including that late winner at Litex that ensured we went into the final day as league leaders.
AF - Todor Chavorski - Like his strike partner, the goals to game contribution was down on last season, but he popped up with key goals when it mattered, becoming the club's all-time leading goalscorer in the process with his early season goal away to Kariana.
Backup RM - James Lima - After spending the last few years competing with several other players to be Tsvetelin Tonev's understudy, Lima finally gets his name on this list with 3 assists in 13 appearances.
Backup CB - Georgi Kupenov - 11 starts for Kupenov, he was generally pretty secure when asked to deputise ahead of one of the usual centre backs.
Backup CM - Tsvetoslav Petrov - My first money signing, I was very content with his performances in the 27 appearances.
Backup LM - Radoslav Marinov - After a very successful first loan spell, the re-emergence of Martin Valchinov as our first choice winger and the consistency that Nediljko Matas provided at left back that meant Valchinov wasn't required to deputise there, youngster Radoslav Marinov only started 8 of his 22 games, scoring once and setting up 3 goals.
Backup TM - Zhivko Petkov - No longer considered first choice after the signing of Bilal Bari last winter, Petkov made sure not to be forgotten about completely with 7 goals, including a couple of winners and the two goals against Maritsa that sealed the Second Division title.
Backup RB - Kiril Bachev - Despite being sent off on his debut, Bachev was asked to cover Hadzhiev during our busier periods and gave a decent account of himself in his first full season in the first team.
Backup AF - Bogomil Bozhurkin - His second appearance as a backup forward, Bozhurkin proved particularly lethal in the cup, with 3 goals as we saw off Chernomorets Balchik and Slavia Sofia, though did only manage 4 in the league.
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