This is why American sports fail right here. They have a lot of wicked, greedy owners and not enough bat-guano crazy.
This is the short (welcome to you) story of Stein Manolov, who owned the Bulgarian First Division side Sarco Cello until Sunday evening, cleverly nicknamed the Tsar. In fact, the Sophia-based group, founded in 2016, was named after one of the Russian Tsar’s palaces, so you can get an idea of how our Stone feels about authoritarian rule.
However, the Tsars needed a win on the last day of the season to avoid relegation and as luck would have it (you can define it as you wish) they were awarded a penalty in the 96th minute of the 1-1 game. With locomotive Sophia 1929. Youssefa was setting up for Yafa to take a penalty kick when the affectionate Stein pushed on the pitch and not only insisted that Martin Kavdansky, the common spot kicker, take the kick instead, but also removed Yafa from the field through safety.
So of course Kavdansky failed because it’s Bulgarian football, and why would we tell you that? The game ends in a draw, Sarsko is released to Cello, and our Stone manages everything with the expected grace. In an article published on the team’s official (and highly junky) website, Manolov announced that he would break up the team altogether, explaining that “investing money in Bulgarian football is the easiest way to lose it.”
Finally, though, there are more questions of this existence. If you had a choice between Stein Manolov and Danny Snyder, who would you choose? The question isn’t entirely rhetorical, but we can get to where you might think it is.