29th
February 2000
Vutzov:I know that the signing of the contract with Chicago Fire is a question of a few days.That's what I learned from Stoichkov,but I will comment it only when it is already a fact.
23rd
February 2000
Hristo:Van Gaal has a very good balance versus Real in the Spanish Championship.From five games he has won three and has finished equal in two of them.Among the wins there are two with the score of 3:0,which will raise the self-confidence of the players.
19th
February 2000
Adam Low-press representative of Chicago Fire:We hope that with his coming in our team Stoichkov will help us win the so long waited cup of the Soccer League.
18th
February 2000
Journalist:Mr Low,here in Bulgaria we know that your club made an offer to our most popular player Hristo Stoichkov.Say something about this and what do you think of Stoichkov?
15th
February 2000
Vutzov:I hope that Hristo will refuse the offer of Chicago Fire and will remain a director of the national teams.
14th
February 2000
Hristo:When the offer is good,I may accept it.They are offering me some money for a week.I am not in a hurry and I will wait for a while.I haven't decided,whether I will go on playing football and when I decide to I will tell Chicago.
8th
February 2000
Vutzov:I greet and hail Hristo from my heart and kiss him like a brother!.
8th
February 2000
Dimitar Penev:I wish him to be alive and healthy.I think,that we will always be coleagues and friends.I hope that he feels well and thinks about football.
6th
February 2000
Journalist:Can it reach so far,that if there are a few unconvincing matches of the national team you might ask for Mladenov to be changed?
3rd
February 2000
Hristo:I am going to Barcelona.I may drop in at our youngsters in Italy,and I may also inspect our players in the Bundesleague,I haven't decided yet.
3rd
February 2000
Hristo:I am staying in Europe and with my engagements as a director of the national teams.I will look at the nationals,who stay in
their teams.I expect good games and results of our team in Chile.I firmly refuse to the Romanians.I won't become a coach
there.I feel very well as a director of the national teams and I don't want to change my job.
31st
January 2000
Hristo:Stojcho betrayed me,because he has talked against me in a company of my non-friends.I shall decide,whether to go on with football,after a conversation with the people from the Bulgarian Union,because I am ready to leave it,if some people,who are far from it dare to put dirt on my name,which I have build with a lot of labour.I am here only because I want to help,if my name is going to be used for an advertisement outside football I will simply leave.
29th
January 2000
Hristo:It is true,that I have a dinner,but it is in the Spanish Embassy and it is with his majesty Jose Koderk,the embassador of Kingdom Spain in Sofia.
27th
January 2000
Hristo:We remain friends with Stojcho,but I decided,that it will be good for us,if in the beginning we separate our functions,so that we don't get confused in the future.I don't want to be constantly occused of mixing in his squad.My position is the one of a director,I must estimate the work of the coaching equips and that's what I think of doing.
27th
January 2000
Stojcho Mladenov:We talked a few times with Hristo since his return from Barcelona.There are no problems between us.A long time friendship connects us.We have been coming to terms as players and coaches,I hope that this will go on in our joined work.It will be best for Hristo to share with us what are his feelings for me,what he thinks of everything that is ahead of us.
26th
January 2000
Journalist:Is it normal for you that Stojcho Mladenov suggests,which players should be included in the widened and unwidened national teams and so on?
Adam Low:Yes,that's right,there were talks with Stoichkov and his managers.Here the situation is a bit more complicated,because the League signs with the players.
Journalist:When do you expect a decision from the Bulgarian star?
Adam Low:There are many factors,which will determine whether Stoichkov will join us.
Journalist:Do you think that Stoichkov will play in Chicago?
Adam Low:Yes,we really hope that Stoichkov will play in Chicago by signing with the league.
Journalist:Say something more special about your club Chicago Fire?
Adam Low:This is a very good League.It can be compared to the English First Division or Seria B in Italy.We were the champions in 1998.We hope to win once again this season,but we need a player like Stoichkov.
Journalist:How does your team want Stoichkov,as a player,as a coach or as both?
Adam Low:We want him only like a player.
(About the conflict between Hristo and Stojcho Mladenov)I think that the story is artificially made and doesn't make any interest for us.
(About the national team)They can't reconcile me.Let them reconcile Stojcho.I am an institution.I am Hristo Stoichkov.I am a machine for money,not for burglaries.
Hristo:I think that it will be absolutely normal,if I estimate the way it is being worked in the national team.I have the full right to show my analysis,what has been done and what hasn't been done.Of course,if the work hasn't been done,we will always seek something better for the good of Bulgarian football.
Journalist:You say something better,does this mean Dimitar Penev?
Hristo:This name is being mentioned a lot of times in Bulgarian football.And I think,that that's right-Dimitar Penev is an institution in Bulgarian football,Bulgarian football needs him.A few days ago he said,that he has the stengths for 3-4 years in perspective,during which he will bring us back the joy we reached together.I think that there is a place for Penev in CSKA,in the national team,and in Bulgarian football as a whole.
(laughing)Let the Romanians collect about one million dollars and then I will think again.
I am not going to meet anyone,I am in Sofia and if someone is looking for me he or she will find me.I remain a director of the national teams,but I am not travelling with the national team to Chile.I wish our 'A' team to start with a win,which will appear to be the first step on our way to the World Cup finals.
Hristo:He is a coach of the national team,he estimates,which player should play.I think that it is normal for me stating my opinion,but after he is the man,who determines the squad and will be responsible for the representation of the team.We talked about 2-3 days ago and that is why the press conference was delayed.
I appreciate his decision to wait for my coming back in Bulgaria.I know that there are problems for some players to join the national team training camp,I am going to understand everything in details tonight.When the list with the players travelling to Chile is presented tomorrow,I will be happy to see that their number is possibly the biggest.
Journalist:You won't deny that you oppose the including of Ilian Iliev in the national team?
Hristo:The theme about Ilian Iliev is very hot.Leave the boy,it is only because of you filling his head with nonsense,that he starts talking things that have nothing in common.I have never opposed Ilian Iliev's participation in the national team.Never!Ilian Iliev didn't play in the national team,because Jordan Letchkov and Krassimir Balakov were playing in this position.At that point of time the coach was Dimitar Penev.When Jordan Letchkov didn't come to the World Cup in France,the No 11 jersey was carried by Ilian Iliev and he played in almost all the matches,let us not desinform each other.
Journalist:There was a publication in 'Seven Days Sports' Newspaper saying "Are we going to insert new players in the team or should we put on the jerseys again?",in which you firmly say that you oppose him being included in the national team.(In the interview in front of the newspaper Stoichkov doesn't mention the name Ilian Iliev.)
Hristo:I have never said that I am against him.Never!I have never said this player is good,this one is not.You can see on your own,Stanimir Stoilov is 32-33 years old,Ivajlo Jordanov is 31-32,but they are players,who have given and will give to the national team.So there are skillful and unskillful players,the age is not important.Julio Salinas is 37 years old,but he scores goals.So don't mix me in things that have nothing in common,and thus the people getting angry,that I don't want Ilian Iliev to play.If I didn't want Ilian Iliev to play he would have never played in the national team.But I have seen myself,the existence of something good in him as a player,so I don't have any problems with this boy.It is important for him to be calm and to know how to play football.
Journalist:Is this your comment for the boycotte announce on the first page of 'Night Labour'?
Hristo:I have excluded these people from a long time ago,they are simply on the other side of our point of view,of our job,which aims to make everyone proud of being Bulgarian and want to make something good.
Journalist:Have you talked with Emil Kostadinov and Nasko Sirakov about their decision to limit the number of players,they are letting come with the national team?
Hristo:Stojcho Mladenov must talk with them,because he is the head-coach of the national team.There is a leadership of the Bulgarian Football Union,which must get activated and do its job.
Journalist:The thrice of you as friends must try to reach a compromise decision.
Hristo:If I have the permission of Stojcho Mladenov I don't have any problems talking with Nasko or Emil.During the time,when there was a scandal about the famous phrase of Ivan Slavkov and the Levski players didn't join the national team,Nasko called me himself and invited me in the base of Levski in Bankja.I went,we drinked coffee and came to terms,so you see I have never had problems with Nasko or Emil and let's hope that I won't have.
Journalist:Have you heard of a team,wich determins a limit for the players it lets in the national team.
Hristo:No I haven't.But since that's what they have decided the leadership of the Bulgarian Football Union knows its duties and has the necessary normative base.I can only be happy,if more players respond to the invitation about coming in the national team,the more they are,the better it is for the national team and for the club football.
Journalist:Ico,you said that there is a period in which the we should see what the abilities of Stojcho Mladenov to deal with the national team will be estimated.How long it this period?
Hristo:Only God knows that.Only God can say how many matches he is going to lead as head-coach and how many years.
Journalist:At that point of time you said that if we see that the things are not going very well,another one may come.Would you take the national team in such a situation?
Hristo:This is another topic of discussion.Don't mix me in things connected with me wanting to replace Stojcho Mladenov in the national team.I have bet on this man,I have talked with him,maybe I was the first to express my opinion about Stojcho,so from now on only the results will decide the future of a coach.You see that things change every day,every day when a team isn't going well,when there aren't results,of course we must look for any changes.But I am not the man,who should judge Stojcho Mladenov,there is a Football Union,there is a leadership,which must decide who should be the coach.
Journalist:You have always been an optimist,but on this level of our inner championship and all our playesrs,which are playing abroad already not in the most class teams,if we look real what are our chances?
Hristo:I think that our program is made in the best way.I saw the programs of almost all the national teams and I think,that there isn't a team,who will be a host of 4 out of its first 5 matches.
Journalist:Should there be national team training camps?
Hristo:I think that there should be national team training camps,but I have always said that such things are estimated and decided,when the football men gather.
Journalist:Tonight they are going to give the prize for a player of the century in Plovdiv,are you invited?
Hristo:No,I don't know anything about this problem I just arrive.
