The top of the league was familiar and consisted entirely of the Sofia clubs. Slavia finished 4th, a point behind Lokomotiv.
Sitting, from left: Vasko Shalamanov, Botyo Malinov, Atanas Aleksandrov, Tchavdar Tzvetkov, Christo Mladenov – coach, Vanyo Kostov, Georgy Minchev, Petar Miladinov, Ivan Chakarov.
Middle row: Trendafil Terziisky – assistant coach, Andrey Zhelyazkov, Roumen Stoyanov, Bozhidar Grigorov, Georgy Dermendzhiev, Svetoslav Georgiev, Simeon Simeonov – assistant coach.
Third row: Stoycho Stefanov, Ivan Iliev, Milcho Evtimov, Georgy Tikhanov, Ilyaz Aliev, Georgy Gugalov.
One more season contributing to the growing myth that Slavia was oppressed and blocked from winning the title by Communist authorities. The squad was at its prime, consisting of 8 mostly current national players. The attack – Aleksandrov-Zhelyazkov-Tzvetkov – was arguably the best in the country and usually best or second scoring in the championship. The strikers were aided by one of the best midfield lines – Kostov- Aliev-Minchev – who were also prolific scorers. The defense was strong and goalkeeping – decent. Mature team, playing together for long time already and at its best age – 24-27. They had one of the best Bulgarian coaches at the time – Mladenov, who lead Bulgaria to the 1974 World Cup finals. Yet, Slavia was not winning titles – at best, they were second or third. Fourth place was actually most likely finish. Certainly Slavia was blocked by orders or other schemes, but there was something else which was entirely their own fault: Slavia was traditionally and notoriously inconsistent. A fantastic match was followed by sloppy and indifferent performance. This season was no exception – Slavia was best among their city rivals: they won twice against Levski, tied their both matches against CSKA (a bit of a surprise, for usually Slavia did not put much resistance to CSKA – partly, because they also belonged to a military branch), had one win and one loss against Lokomotiv (for Lokomotiv, the match with Slavia was the most important derby), and had a win and a tie against Akademik. That is, Slavia lost a single match against the top three clubs in the league and was the best of the Sofia clubs. But they lost against equal or weaker opponents: twice against Chernomoretz (5th), twice against Beroe (7th), and exchanged a win and a loss with whole bunch of the clubs at the bottom of the table. In total, Slavia lost 1/3 of seasonal games – 10. They were not winners… they were not tough enough. And there was a bit of novelty: the veteran Bozhidar Grigorov was a playing assistant coach the previous season, but just a player this year. Playing coaches were extremely rare in Bulgarian football, but transition from coaching to mere playing in the same club is perhaps unique in the world.
Lokomotiv (Sofia) took the bronze medals. Nobody expected the champions of 1977-78 to repeat their victory – Lokomotiv ranked 4th in Sofia in terms of influence and money. Their squad was wonderful, but mostly made of second rate players – yes, a whole bunch of them played in the national team, but almost nobody was considered good enough for CSKA or Levski (the very reason they played for Lokomotiv for years). The team needed some strong additional players, if wanting to stay at the top, but was not able to get any – the reserves came largely from their own youth system, whatever said system produced. The club was more generous to its young players than most clubs, but it was out of necessity – behind the regulars there was very little, whoever was available eventually played. Yet, Lokomotiv delivered very strong season, staying in the race for the title almost to the end. They won their both matches against CSKA, not only continuing the tradition of playing their best against the army club, but adding a new element: from this season the joke started that the referee should not give a corner kick to Lokomotiv, for it was equal to a penalty – Nachko Mikhailov scored directly from the corner and came close to scoring on few other occasions from the same position against CSKA. Given their limited resources, Lokomotiv outdid itself, but the club was truck with disaster: they committed unforgivable crime in the European Champions Cup – they eliminated Lobanovsky’s Dinamo Kiev. Eliminated a Soviet team… no Bulgarian club ever dared such a thing. Punishment followed… the prime villain was the coach Vassil Metodiev, the master builder of this team, the man who shaped, tuned, and motivated his small squad, winning a title against all odds. He was sacked… Lokomotiv was forced to fire the coach. For Metodiev it was just the first taste of the wrath of Communist authorities… in the 1980s he committed the same crime against the same Soviet club one more time. Plus others… So far, it was just the beginning of long and nasty persecution of wonderful coach – and football suffered because of that. Certainly Lokomotiv suffered immediately.
The champions of 1978 were bronze medalists in 1979 – the same boys exactly. Standing, from left: Vassil Metodiev – coach, Nikola Donev, Georgy Stankov, Kiril Petkov, Angel Kolev, Ivan Vassilev, Nikola Spassov, Georgy Stefanov, Sasho Elenkov, Miroslav Grozdanov.
Sitting: Nasko Zhelev, Yordan Stoykov, Trayko Sokolov, Georgy Bonev, Ventzislav Arsov, Borislav Dimitrov, Ivan Dangov, Georgy Georgiev.
Three key players are missing: Atanas ‘Nachko’ Mikhailov, Roumen Goranov, and Radoslav Zdravkov. They, plus Kolev, Sokolov, Stoykov, Bonev, Arsov, and Dimitrov were the constant regulars. The reserves were merely reserves… some showed some promise, but did not develop (Elenkov), others flashed for short time (Dangov, Stefanov), some had middle-of-the-road careers elsewhere (Spassov), some disappeared quickly, leaving no memory at all (Georgiev, Grozdanov). Such was the prdicament of Lokomotiv… only two of the young reserves became strong players – the goalkeeper Donev and the defender Zhelev – but after a few years. Which was the whole problem of the team – some of the stars were already getting old (Mikhailov and Sokolov) and there was nobody capable of replacing them. A long term injury or a transfer of a key player to another club, and Lokomotiv was surely to collapse. Living on the edge… a lovely team may be because of that.
Moody Slavia was not a serious threat and Lokomotiv, already overachieving, was still lacking something to be taken entirely seriously, so the arch-enemies CSKA and Levski-Spartak concentrated on each other. Neither club had a particularly great season, but they were the contenders and it was breath taking because the title was to be decided in the very last round of the season in the direct derby – fans feast, to be sure, but also for the clubs. No matter how they played so far, certainly they were to be highly motivated and expected to make exciting game – it was all or nothing, no room for tricks. Levski was leading by a point and CSKA was expected to be more aggressive, for they needed a win. The leaders were expected to play more carefully, aiming at a tie. A month earlier Levski eliminated CSKA in the Cup ½ finals – irritating loss for CSKA, which dominated at first, but after scoring a goal decided to keep their lead with defensive tactic and was promptly beaten. Revenge was surely in their minds, but still the title was at stake and what better motivation than that. Strangely, CSKA sacked their coach after the Cup match and had a new one – barely 34-years old former player Asparoukh Nikodimov, with practically no coaching experience yet. His debut was in this most important match and opinions were divided – some thought it was a big mistake to change the coach at the very end of the season; others – that the change will invigorate the team. Predictions were fulfilled at first: Levski indeed played carefully and slightly defensively. CSKA was attacking, but the change of the coach did not change anything on the pitch – the attacks were monotonous and predictable: long high balls in front of the net, aimed at the tall center-forward Dzhevizov.The opposition knew that, Dzhevizov was covered well and prevented from striking. CSKA was more active and slightly dominant in the first half, but unable to score. The second half was entirely different – wanting to win, CSKA went into hazardous attacks, which in turn spurred Levski. Empty space was convenient for counter-attacks at first, but eventually Levski abandoned their initial defensive approach and played attacking football. They scored first in the 57th minute and the goal spurred them to entirely open attacking football. It was like Levski needed a win, not CSKA – but fate played its usual joke: as soon as Levski changed their tactics, CSKA scored an equalizer. Still, Levski continued to attack, eventually prevailed and was the more dangerous team and scored a second – and very attractive – goal in the 78th minute. The diminutive midfielder Barzov, assigned to neutralize Dzhevizov, scored – it was literally a victory of David over Goliath: the big striker did not score, but his small shadow, a player, who was not supposed to score, but to stay back and follow Dzhevizov. Anyhow, Levski-Spartak won 2-1 and the title.
Silver medalists, standing, from left: Georgy Velinov, Tzonyo Vassilev, Georgy Dimitrov, Ivan Metodiev, Asparoukh Nikodimov – coach, Georgy Slavkov, Ivan Zafirov, Christo Topalov, Yordan Filipov, Dimitar Penev – assistant coach.
Crouching: Dimitar Aleksiev, Tzvetan Yonchev, Angel Rangelov, Krassimir Goranov, Plamen Markov, Spas Dzhevizov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Angel Kalburov.
Retrospectively, this team is credited as beginning of an era – a very successful period of CSKA, coached by Nikodimov, who became a legend and managed to eliminate two reigning European Champions Cup holders. This was also the debut of the coach voted the best Bulgarian coach of 20th century: Dimitar Penev. In the squad is Plamen Markov – the last coach qualifying Bulgaria to a major final tournament (The 2000 European Championship). Some of the greatest Bulgarian stars of the 1980s are here – Georgy Dimitrov, Georgy Velinov, and Georgy Slavkov. But this is what can be seen in the squad today – back in May, 1979, they were losers… because for CSKA only titles count and second place is nothing. The wisdom of changing the coach so late in the season was criticized – Nikodimov was so young and without any experience to be trusted not only with a derby, but with a decisive one. Objectively, Nikodimov had limited options – he inherited a squad and so late in the season it was impossible to recruit players. It was not a selection made by the new coach, though. Denev, the star adored by the fans, was not on the pitch at the final derby – nothing was made of it right away, but soon enough the story cane out, adding new suspicions of the green coach – the story is still talked about and is still controversial, but it was more so in real time. It deserves a separate space, but later, so to placed in its proper time – it suffice for the moment that Denev is still unhappy with his former teammate Nikodimov, who dismissed him from CSKA, telling him that as a coach, he does not want to have players with whom he played together. Makes sense… in terms of establishing authority and Denev was notoriously undisciplined. But… only Denev was let out. Filipov, Zafirov, Vassilev, who were also teammates with Nikodimov stayed. At first the new coach was not exactly thrilling – at best, it looked like CSKA following Levski’s example by making a radical coaching change, placing instead of experienced coach young former players without any experience – Levski did that in 1975 with the tandem Vutzov-Zhechev and it did not work, now CSKA followed with Nikodimov-Penev and the initial result was a loss. And copying Levski never stays well with the fans of CSKA, which added additional criticism. The whole thing appeared to be a temporary measure – until ‘proper’ coach was found. And it looked this way largely because CSKA struggled a few years already, unable to build a new strong team. Players were coming and going, there was always something missing, not right… and it was a third consecutive year without a title – a record period, irritating everybody associated with CSKA. There was no trophy at all – the last time CSKA won the Cup was in 1974. Three seasons entirely empty-handed – what better prove that there was no winning squad. And the current vintage was not ‘it’ certainly – there were still aging players, getting closer and closer to retirement (Filipov, Zafirov, Denev, Dimitar Dimitrov, Nikola Christov, Vassilev), there was no right winger (Aleksiev was a mediocrity and rarely played), some were clearly second-stringers (Topalov). The very young Georgy Slavkov was promptly returned to Trakia, as a disappointment – the future European Golden Shoe winner eventually came back, but after a few years. Velinov and Georgy Dimitrov were only a promising youngsters – chances were given to them, but for the moment they were only possible replacements – in the future – of Filipov and Rangelov, still playing for the national team. It all depended on the summer transfers and whims… luckily for CSKA, Nikodimov was not replaced, as expected. It looked like he was given ‘a second chance’, still a temporary one, but this was in the future. For the moment CSKA sulked at second place.
Levski-Spartak finished in style – they won the title with match satisfying both fans and critics. However, it was not at all overwhelming season – Levski struggled especially in the fall. They played some exciting games, but also had a good deal of lukewarm games. All ended well – excellent, in fact for Levski finished with a double – and now this is considered a great season. Time changes views and builds myths… and yet, a double cannot be criticized harshly. But… after winning a double, the coach was sacked… which suggests it was not all that great performance. The problem was that Levski was lulled into a dangerous position – on the surface, gradual replacement of players was smooth: few old stars gone, few younger ones arrived. Small changes in the last few seasons, nothing radical. The bulk of the team was aging more as team than individual players, however. They were familiar to every other clubs, their game easily predictable, some already reached their peaks and it was inevitable downhill for them. There were too many attacking midfielders in the team, which was a problem when it came to selecting starters and changed the very tactical scheme: often Levski played without a center-forward, but by habit played as if they had one, which was ineffective. The form of individual players fluctuated vastly and it never certain how this or that player will play, but it was usually discovered when a match was already in progress and some star was a fluke. Unfortunately, nobody was over 30 yet and the squad appeared to be ‘deep’ – there were about 2 equally strong players for almost every position. Some newcomers were especially bright and considered to be key figures for years – they still needed a bit more experience, and the timing look right: they were expected to be at their best exactly when it was time for some current star to step down. It was too comfortable vision, making radical changes unthinkable. After all, Dimitar Enchev replaced Kiril Ivkov so well, that Ivkov went to play for Etar without any fuss – Enchev was seen as regular for the next ten years. Thomas Lafchis benched the national team goalkeeper Staykov in his very first season, still a mere teenager. Roussy Gochev, barely 20 years old, with minimal first league experience, not only adapted at once to his new teammates, but ended as the top scorer of the league. On the left wing Anton Milkov was still shaky, but his talent was undeniable and shaky or not, he was rapidly becoming a regular, pushing aside another young prodigy, Emil Spassov. Talent was there… and also inconsistency; and a need of a real center-forward, for Levski traditionally played with one, it was in the mentality of the players, the core of their game; and some players had to go simply because they were slowly starting to decline. But no radical change was made… Levski rised to the occasion when it really mattered, won the title, the declining stars still delivered at least 5-6 strong games and with good reserves, eager to get regular spots, inconsistency was fought by rotation. Rotation hided simple facts: Grancharov was no better than Tishansky, Yordanov than Borissov and none of them was actually going to improve. They were only solid and able to cover for each other. One symbolic sign was the size of the players – the tendency in Europe at that time was bigger and bigger players, but Levski was getting smaller and smaller. The fans nicknamed this squad ‘the dwarfs’ – Nikolov, Milkov, Barzov, Gochev, Kochev… the team was getting shorter, closer to the grass than to the sky. Levski was stuck. And it was going to experience a spectacular failure soon… unless radical changes were made. Nobody dared… at least not yet. Then again, why changing a winning squad?
Plenty of trophies this year… must have been a great team. Sitting, from left: Iv. Tishansky, T. Barzov, Pl. Nikolov, T. Lafchis, An. Milkov, P. Panov, Em. Spassov.
Middle row: Al. Kostov – assistant coach, Kr. Borissov, N. Grancharov, St. Aladzhov, Iv. Vutzov – coach, D. Enchev, V. Voynov, Yul. Kolev, L. Goranov – assistant coach.
Third row: Y. Yordanov, A. Stankov, G. Todorov, Vl. Nikolchev, Br. Kochev, R. Gochev.
Before winning the title, the boys won the Cup. They eliminated CSKA at the ½ finals and met Beroe (Stara Zagora) at the final. To a point, the final was also a dangerous sign – Beroe scored first, but Levski won 4-1 at the end. The big victory quickly covered the fact that Levski had to be spurred by a goal, to come back from a sleep. But it was comfortable victory, the ‘blues’ dominated the second half, Voynov did not play well, but his replacement Milkov did, Yordanov was not a starter, but Borissov was fine, and so on to the lull. It took a whole year, if not even longer, until it was realized that big reshaping was in order. It needed a string of disasters – D. Enchev suffered terrible injury after which he was never the same and had to leave the team; Anton Milkov died in car crash; and Thomas Lafchis was allowed to move to Greece, since he was an ethnic Greek. That is, the future of the team was suddenly gone… but it was still in the unknown future. For the moment a double and great joy. After all, when these really played, they were fun. And winners are winners.
Beroe had strength only for about half an hour at the Cup final. They scored and lead, but for short time. In the second half they were practically out of the game – it is quite telling that Beroe replaced their goalkeeper in the 64th minute: it was that bad. But it was a success for Beroe nevertheless . More than success – because Levski were also the champions, Beroe was to play in the European Cup Winners Cup. They liked that – and usually played well in European competitions.
The losing finalists in their traditional green and white. Sitting, from left: Georgy Georgiev, Tenyo Minchev, Mitko Nikolov, Petko Petkov – captain, Georgy Stoyanov, Angel Yanev, Tanyo Petrov.
Middle row: Ivan Tanev – coach, Kancho Kasherov, Tanko Tanev, Todor Krastev, Zlatko Vassilev, Kosta Kostov, Valentin Peev, Stefan Stefanov, Vassil Ivanov – assistant coach.
Top row: Plamen Lipensky, Christo Belchev, Stefan Naydenov, Dinko Dimitrov, Stayko Staykov, Emil Lichev.
One important player is not on the picture – the new sensation Stoycho Mladenov. The squad is a bit strange – a mix of legends, future stars, and various promising guys, who had different develeopments in the future. One thing was sure – this team appears a bit transitional and compared to the great squad of the late 1960s and early 1970s – not much. But Beroe was fantastically unpredictable team: the same squad was capable of compete with the best one year and to be relegated the next. And to climb again to great performance in the third. This season was a strong one – Beroe finished 7th in the championship and reached the Cup final. Inspiration perhaps cane from Petko Petkov, who came back after playing for Akademik (Svishtov) the previous season. The great scorer continued to score. To a point, Beroe was a decent team – Todor Krastev, a former national team goalkeeper, was declining but had enormous experience, so goalkeeping was pretty much fine: Kostov was more often a starter, but Krastev was ready to back him up. Kasherov, European champion with the Bulgarian junior team, was aleready with massive first league experience and at 22 among the best Bulgarian right full-backs. Tenyo Minchev was rapidly becoming one of the top central defenders in the league – and eventually played for the national team. He was paired with bright teenage talent – Dinko Dimitrov, he younger brother of Georgy Dimitrov, and barely 18 years old. Georgy Dimitrov made his impressive debut two years earlier and immediately snatched by CSKA – his brother covered the gap right away and just as quickly moved to CSKA as well. Beroe was regular supplier of CSKA for years, so to a point, their fate depended on that – for the moment, they were lucky to have big talent at hand, covering the loss of Georgy Dimitrov. In midfield two promising players had a strong season – Georgy Stoyanov and Stefan Naydenov. Stoyanov was seen as the better one at the time – Naydenov was soon gone to play elsewhere – but the roles changed after a few years. The attack was the strongest line – Srefan Stefanov , not good enough for CSKA, came to Beroe, and at least this season, he played well on the right wing. Petko Petkov took again his place as center-forward, his age not showing at all. At 33 he was still one of the most dangerous strikers in the league – and still had to make his mark in Austria, where he went to play in the early 1980s. His presence moved Stoycho Mladenov to the left wing. Mladenov made himself known the previous season, when he took the spot left empty by Petkov’s departure. He was lethal. This season he was lethal again – even in the presence of one of the all-time greatest goalscorers, Mladenov still ended the top scorer of Beroe – scoring a goal more than Petkov. Mladenov really became a legend of CSKA, but to a point his fate was sealed this year: originally a center-forward, he rarely played at this position, because of competition. Almost all of his career he was ‘temporary’ playing at the left wing. Beroe had a strong group of players, although all depended on carnivorous desires of CSKA and Levski. At the end, in the 1980s only Kasherov, Minchev, and Stoyanov remained with Beroe – the others for one or another reason did not last.