Not only the footballer and coach Dimitar Penev left us, the era Dimitar Penev left us! Pena, like Ivan Abadzhiev, were not just athletes, sports figures, coaches – they were GREAT PEOPLE. Pena was not just a coach, he was a strategist.
Pena was the man who made a small football nation dream boldly and believe that miracles are possible. USA ’94 will remain forever in our hearts – fourth in the world, united, proud, happy.
CSKA, the national team, generations of football players and millions of fans bear his imprint – with that wisdom, humanity and inimitable humor of his.
Thank you for the joy, the lessons and the unforgettable moments.
Your memory will live on as long as football is played in Bulgaria.
Rest in peace, Strategist.
And let's just remember that simple human trait of his with which he captivated everyone. The chatter during discussions, training sessions, press conferences and interviews is endless. Let's give ourselves another smile, because he loved to smile too.
From the life of the Strategist:
1. That reporter was supposedly asking me questions, but she kept staring at the players. If her boss knew how he looked around, he would fire her. Don't they have men in those newspapers?!
2. There was a crisis... What a crisis - today someone in the store filled 2-3 large baskets. The saleswoman's hands got tired counting his money.
3. You won't stand in one place and pick your noses at the corner. Move, move, watch where the player is going, don't let him go.
4. Did they grease you with oil for this calendar? You look like wrestlers. If we, the old men, had taken off our clothes, the women would have thrown us out.
5. Inter...net, Milan... net, what is this nonsense?! I only read newspapers. How they get these things on these screens, I don't know! This is for the young, not for an old man like me.
6. Mittal, Pital, this is - there is no money! What kind of boss is this, he's never been a jerk. If I met him on the street now, I wouldn't recognize him. I only remember that he was dark and short, I don't remember anything else...
7. My guitar broke down - I press the buttons, he sings. Fuck the equipment!
8. He can't drink. He turned over a vodka and started chugging.
9. That bottle is hard to open. He's like an old maid...
10. Let's call it a student town, Hot Town. That's what I call it. You're there every night, raising the temperature.
11. Anyone who overdoes the other fuel should immediately switch to beer!
12. Udoji, what are you looking at like a hungry shopper in front of the grocery store?
13. When you look at a beautiful girl, a beautiful woman - that's a stimulus, it goes into the preparation...
14. What a fire, huh? I didn't serve in the fire department, but in the regular army!
15. The Spaniards from Atletico are dangerous! Especially that curly-haired one, Kikov (ed. note: Kiko). They also have a Brazilian - Zmunyo (ed. note: Juninho), who just hides the ball. Therefore, when we get the records, we will investigate them in detail.
16. Don't embellish Dembele's qualities. When he plays at 50%, they say he plays at 90%.
17. I didn't see any porn at that match, there were no naked people.
18. The French may be roosters, but they don't crow in Sofia.
19. Good loss.
20. When a new player comes to the team, he should be clear about the following - to play 10 strong matches, 2 average and 1 weak one every half-season. Here are 15 matches.
21. I told Itso to bring the press attaché Putko Mafani to the headquarters. This Putko will save him from bookings. Stoichkov will sit on the bench and referee the match, and if the referee comes running and wants to punish him for someone else's remark, Itso will say: But I'm turning to Putko Mafani.
22. Unfortunately, mineral water calcifies the players' brains and it's not easy to work with them.
23. I had set my sights on watching Chernomorets and Levski on January 1, but still the players won't sleep then.
24. I say again that everything is going as I planned. I'm good at planning and other things like that.
25. I categorically state that I can leave CSKA and move back to CSKA. Only this can happen and write it down!
26. I suggested to my colleague Murray that we not play a match in this cold and snow, but that we get out the red wine and get started. I'm drawing.
27. I personally took my last salary. Everything is fine with us and even if any of you need money, I'll lend you 1000 leva.
28. It's good that the boys wanted to work, despite these abnormal shouts from the bad fans.
29. The next Stoichkovs and Berbatovs will be born when they reduce prices and narrow down Studentski Grad. Then the young people will visit this town less often.
30. Otherwise the players are fine. They smile, but they're tired. Sometimes we have to be serious, other times - friends.
31. We have to be careful, there are tough matches coming with relegated teams. These are Pirin, then in Marek with Stanke Dimitrovo...
32. My presence is generally from the CSKA group, like the whole team. And especially about the previous match, you know the story - penalties, cards... The match shouldn't have ended like this, a draw was normal. It's not just CSKA that's going slowly, all of football is going like this, which is hindering the national team.
33. It can't be like that! They played 20-30 fouls, which interferes with the football game. We can't ask for a penalty in the knee and have the main referee demonstrate. In one last attack - in the 92nd minute, when our player breaks away... a very rough foul! There are no consequences, no card and no reaction even from the side, from towards us where, whoever was on the bench, he would have seen it, right...
34. Guys, today we are in a 4-4-3 system.
35. This time there will be no white wine and violins to distract me.
36. What is a center-midfielder for when I have four? These are Iliev and Tunchev from CSKA and Pazhin from Levski (ed. note: Tomašić). Separately, I have the tall one from Litex (ed. Plamen Nikolov), and the one who is not allowed to play in Levski (ed. Topuzakov). That's why I don't call Karaslavov in the national team. I call a lot of people, but that doesn't mean anything. I haven't heard from Naso (ed. Sirakov) for months.
37. The locker room has become like an inn!
38. There has been a bottom and there will be a bottom again. There will always be a bottom...
39. It will be difficult for us against the cold Swedes, but I think we will somehow break through them. We have to, otherwise the fans will break through me.
40. I have only one requirement - the tour guide must be middle-aged.
41. Iraklis is a good team - seventh-ninth.
42. The CSKA bus is chocolate-colored, so that it is in the shade. We bought it at 0 km. The Duce wanted us to paint it red, but I recommended that he look after his fan club and not allow trade with CSKA.
43. Nikolay Ishkov is a dude, but he's a fox. Before we played with Cologne, he signed a contract with a beer company. When I found out what he had done, I pulled him aside and asked him what this beer was and if we wouldn't at least try it.
44. For other new additions, you can ask your friend - Kiro the administrator.
45. I don't comment on rumors. You start them, journalists. You often drink with the football players, and then you start this and that.
46. We shouldn't start talking about sex first. It's been 15 years. Let our supporters know that in the USA the football players were with their wives. These were the wives, not the boyfriends. It doesn't matter that there was a swimming pool. And in 1970 in Mexico we were in the pool, but we finished 16th out of 16 teams.
47. No one should get on the bus before they have arrived!
48. But when you think about the moment on the pitch itself, when they were off the pitch...
49.
- Kremenliev, you will guard number 11, Zlatkov (b.r. actually Zlatko Yankov), you will be with Cantona.
- But they are the same person!
- Then the two of you will understand each other somehow... Stoichkov and the rest burst out laughing, and Itso shouts: “Pena, Cantona plays with number 11, So you're talking about the same footballer! Instead of getting embarrassed, Dimitar Penev slowly raised his glasses and "stabbed" Itso with a look: "Don't tease me, because you won't decide the match. That Lyubocheto (b.r. - Lyuboslav Penev), that Emil (b.r. - Kostadinov) will decide it!" As it happens... After the historic 2:1 victory over the Czech Republic, Pena is also known for his oracular abilities. (Discussion in the locker room before the great match with France at the Parc des Princes, 1993. It was Cantona who discovered the result, but then we all know what happened.)
50. The sun is so small, but it illuminates the entire earth... Only scientists know how it works!
(ed.-compiled by “Topsport“)