After weeks of reassurances that Plamen Markov would keep his job as the coach of Bulgaria’s national football team despite the recent run of poor results, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) unexpectedly decided to sack him with a unanimous vote in the BFU executive committee on December 2. BFU president Borislav Mihailov and BFU executive committee members Yordan Lechkov, Nasko Sirakov and Emil Kostadinov were appointed to the ad hoc committee that will have to select the next coach.

According to Lechkov, who spoke after the BFU executive committee meeting, Markov was sacked because of the disappointing results in the national team’s recent games, and in particular the embarrassing 6-1 thrashing inflicted by Serbia in a friendly in November. The BFU, however, is now searching for a fourth manager in less than two years and will have their work cut out in convincing the fans that the federation has a coherent strategy for the future. Talking to Bulgarian-language sports daily Meridian Match, Lechkov joked: “I think it would be a good idea to invite the manager of Manchester United... what was his name... oh yes, Sir Alex Ferguson. At least we know that Dimitar Berbatov respects him and he is a good motivator.” At the same time, Lechkov was quick to say that “Markov never had a problem with motivation or the players”.

His words failed to offer a clear answer why exactly was Markov sacked if he never had a problem and why the BFU insists on heaping the blame at the feet of a single man for the poor performance of a team, of players who are doing well in their foreign clubs but failed to put up a good performance when playing for Bulgaria.

Mihailov’s statement did not help clear the issue. “Markov was released from his contract for the poor performance of the team,” he told sports daily 7 Dni Sport. “We are Europeans and we will act, accordingly, like Europeans. Markov will be compensated financially after his contract was prematurely terminated. Everything between him and the BFU will be taken care of in a civilised manner. We are now in the search of a quality manager, regardless of nationality. He will have to be appointed by January 15,” Mihailov said.

Mihailov did not, however, explain what would be the point of spending more money for attracting a foreign manager, who will have to deal with a group of players that have shown a lack of desire to play for the national team. After all, it was Lechkov himself who said in an earlier interview with Meridian Match that “the problem with Bulgaria is our foreign-based players who don’t play for Bulgaria and have no motivation. Berbatov only manages to run 1.8km for the national team, whereas he does 8km for Manchester United. [Aston Villa’s] Stilian Petrov does not perform either, neither does [naturalised Brazilian] Lucio Wagner.”

So why the sudden change of heart? If Markov had no problem motivating the players, could it be that the problem ultimately lies with the players themselves? No one at the BFU seems to be doing anything to fix that problem and half-way measures will at best patch things up, but not for long.