The Second Division, at its largest, was also quite boring, for there was no real race for promotion – one team in each group dominated, the rest were not bothered at all. And why should they? With 22 teams in each group, clubs from larger cities preferred to stay in the lower level to the risky and may be brief existence in the top league. So was the choice of many relatively good players – with so many clubs to choose from, almost every good player was quickly finding a place for himself as a local star. But with good players dispersed wide, there was hardly a strong team around. And in the Northern Group of Second Division there were no thrills:
Dobrudzha (Tolbukhin) finished 18th, barely escaping relegation. Standing from left: Atanas Petkov, Petar Kirov, Christo Bozhkov, Ivan Georgiev, Ivan Manolov, Stoyan Gospodinov.
Crouching: Valentin Delchev, Dinko Christov, Valentin Radev, Nikola Konanov, Krassimir Nyagolov.
Gone were the days Dobrudzha played First Division football and the only goal was keeping a place in the Second Division. No ambition at all.
Lokomotiv (Mezdra) – 12th. Second Division was their highest aim, now safely in mid-table and no worried. The typical second division club.
So was Ludogoretz (Razgrad) – 8th this year, which actually was a strong performance. If somebody told the players that the club will be Bulgarian champion in the 21st century, they prabably would have died from laughter.
Dunav (Rousse) finished 9th – a very weak season for a club considered one of the likeliest candidates for promotion. Sitting from left: Christo Topalov, Nasko Borissov, Ivan Kubratov, Vasko Simeonov, Nikola Christov, Stanislav Pashev, Krassimir Tzvetanov, Nikola Spassov.
Middle row: Krassimir Kolev, Pavel Malinov, Yani Prisadnikov, Atanas Tzanov – coach, Petar Frolov – assistant coach, Christo Prisadnikov, Miroslav Mironov, Slavy Damyanov.
Third row: Petko Tzirkov, Stoyan Illiev, Ventzislav Davidkov, Kolyu Chizmarov, Yordan Fillipov, Krassimir Bozhurin, Georgy Kovachev, Ignat Mladenov.
By names, this team should have been going up, but… the biggest names were Yordan Fillipov and Nikola Christov, both former national team players. They were getting old, however – as well as few other well known local stars: Damyanov, Malinov, Illiev, and Mladenov. The rest plainly had no ambitions -the Prisadnikov twins were the prime example: highly talented, they spent their careers playing second division football. The only player, who aimed higher, was Miroslav Mironov and although he never became a big star, he made his name – but with another club.
Like Dunav were the other theoretical ‘leaders” – Yantra (Gabrovo) – 5th with 50 points, ZhSK Spartak (Varna) – 4th with 52, Akademik (Svishtov) – 3rd with 53, and Shoumen (Shoumen) – 2nd with 53 points and best scoring record in the league, 92 goals. None of them tried to run for promotion, though – Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) was the only one and they finished at the top with 62 points, leaving Shoumen 9 points behind.
Champions of Northern Second Division and promoted to the top league. Standing from left: Vassil Metodiev – coach, Radiya Doychev, Kiril Rabchev, Iliya Marinov, Boris Borissov, Boyko Dimitrov, Nikolay Kotzev, Stefan Lakhchiev, Ivan Nenchev, Krassimir Kovachev, Georgy Vassilev – assistant coach.
Sitting: Plamen Yankov, Kadir Bellaliev, Christo Belchev, Georgy Tzingov, Vasko Daskalov, Krassimir Kalchev, Petko Tzanev, Ibryam Mustafov.
Well, Etar was just relegated and quickly tried to move back to first division – they succeeded rather easily, but the squad was seemingly weaker than the one Dunav had. The big star was Lakhchiev, the rest was mostly made of players with good first division experience, but unable to establish themselves in their former teams – Doychev, Rabchev, Belchev, Nenchev, Kovachev, Borissov. Eventually Tzingov and Dimitrov became well known players, but so far they were not considered very promissing. The real strength of the team was the coaching stuff: Vassil Metodiev, arguably the best Bulgarian coach at the time, was paying heavy price for eliminating Dinamo (Kiev) with his former club Lokomotiv (Sofia) and now was reduced to second-division coach. He was helped by very talented Georgy Vassilev, who became one of the most successful coaches in Bulgarian history – at the moment, he was just beginning his career, soaking wisdom from Metodiev. This duo made the best of more or less rag-tag squad and won the championship, but it was quite clear that this team would be in dire straits among the best – as it was the previous season, when Etar was relegated from First Division.
The Southern Second Division did not even had so many former first division members by now and it was clear even before the season started that whoever decided to try promotion will get it.
Maritza (Plovdiv) once upon a time played in the first division, but also a long time ago settled for easy living in the second: this season 15th.
Hebar (Pazardzik) could not be bothered even with dreaming of top league football – they were comfortable with second division football. One year a bit higher, one year a bit lower, but small variations really – they were the typical ‘good’ second division club. 11th this season, so what? Right in the middle of the table.
Assenovetz (Assenovgrad) was 3rd – again, one of the ‘solid’ constant second division members. But they had a great season – for their usual standards. Never so high before, a success. Success, but with caution: Assenovetz never came even close to first place. Third was more than enough.
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), just relegated, was considered the league favourite and expected to win easily. The team was shaky, but still lead by one of the all-time greatest Bulgarian players Christo Bonev; the league was nothing much, it should have been just a walk-over. But they finished 2nd… leaving no memory at all: this photo most likely is not from 1980-81 season – is from that dark period of the club’s history, though.
With Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) out of the picture, only one team aimed higher – Haskovo. With 67 points they were supreme, ending with the best record in both second division groups – they lost only 3 matches and won 28. Received 19 goals – almost half of the goals Etar allowed in the Northern group.
Winners of the Southern Second Division: Sitting from left: Ivan Tishansky, Todor Apostolov, Ivan Vassilev, Mitko Nikolov, Kostadin Latinov, Yordan Kichekov, Sasho Georgiev, Aleksandar Vezenkov.
Middle row: Atanas Atanassov – assistant coach, Svetlin Cholakov, Valentin Kostov, Georgy Tekeliev, Yuksel Redzhebov, Nedyalko Panayotov, Zhivko Gospodinov, Rossen Stratiev.
Third row: Marin Gochev, Stoyan Gurkov, Toshko Yanev, Aleksandar Kostov – coach, Saly Shakirov, Stoyan Dimov, Nikola Kostov.
Haskovo (Haskovo) won the second division championship for a second time – their first was in 1977-78, but they were relegated from first division immediately. Now they were going to try one more time. The team was pretty much the one from their first victory, which meant experience, but mostly second division experience – compared to Etar, they had fewer known players, although some played – and failed – for first division clubs. Like Etar, Haskovo benefited from their coach – the star of the 1960 Aleksandar Kostov. He was not a great coach, but was tricky and with great sense of humour – able to annoy opponents and drive them out of focus on one hand and on the other, able to motivate his players with jokes. His last quality was strings: as a former player of Levski (Sofia), he maintained ties with his former club and thus getting unneeded players from Levski. The former national team defender Ivan Tishansky, no longer useful for Levski, joined Haskovo and eventually others came later. For the moment Haskovo had just three strong names – Tishansky, the aging former centre-forward of Lokomotiv and Trakia (Plovdiv) Kichekov, and the local star and one of the best all-time Second Division scorers Kostadin Latinov. Enough for winning the weaker second division group, not enough for surviving in the top league, but that was a concern for the future. All great at the moment.