For some - unexpected, for others - foretold. That's how the "news" of Radostin Stoychev's departure as coach of Verona sounds. Foretold since the incident during Verona's away game in Civitanova at the beginning of January. We never found out exactly what happened - whether he "choked" a VIP fan of Lube or "just put his hands on his shoulders." It's not visible from the match footage. There are probably recordings from security cameras, but that's not the problem.

As far as we know Stoychev - and we do know him - he has a difficult character and it's possible he lost his temper, provoked by the fan. Even that is not the essence. Apologies and "ashes on his head" followed, but what's broken remains broken, even if glued. We already had "a thought in mind."
Things seemed to look like "a storm in a teacup" after Verona qualified for the Final Four in the Italian Cup, under the leadership of the "targeted" Stoychev. Then, with the help of stars Rok Možič and Naomori Keita, the team reached a historic final. All of us who were in the hall in Bologna saw that Verona was on the verge of triumph, mainly thanks to Keita, who spread his "wings."

The Bulgarian fan was torn between Alex Nikolov's Lube and Stoychev's Verona. The result is already clear. It was also clear that Verona achieved great success and a chance to participate in European tournaments. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief - at least outwardly, the clouds over the head of the new member of the FIVB Referees Commission seemed to have dispersed.
The positive energy from this success gave momentum to Verona, which finished fourth in the regular season. How did the training process go before the series with Piacenza? We'll hardly know, but the undercurrents were obviously a fact.

At the press conference before the playoffs, Stoychev was asked his opinion about the change of coach at Piacenza (Andrea Anastasi was fired, and Lubo Travica took his place). His answer was laconic: "When things don't go well, the coach is the first responsible." It's unlikely this question was asked by chance, although a parallel with Verona supposedly couldn't be drawn. After all, the team was on an upward trajectory, and the Cup final proved it?

Yes, but no, as it's fashionable to say in Bulgaria. The first playoff match against Piacenza came and... it started: "muscle discomfort" for Možič, episodic appearances by Keita "for technical reasons," a logical loss at home, and squandered home advantage. At this moment, a "red light" probably went on in Stoychev's head. He had already seen this "movie" in 2018 when he was at the helm of Modena. Then, however, things were not so refined - stars Bruno Rezende and Earvin Ngapeth simply "fired" him on a TV show.
A quick glance at the forums shows that fans do not agree with Stoychev's departure just before match number 1000 in the history of the Scudetto playoffs and they are probably right, but team sport is difficult because it is an alloy of many components, and the coach is the most vulnerable.
The most recent example of conflict between stars and coach in Bulgaria was the dismissal of Martin Stoev from Neftochimik. Everyone saw tension between him and Axel Truhchev.
Everything said above leads to the logical conclusion that Stoychev preemptively resigned, and was not "fired" by Verona, as Italian colleagues initially suggested. If we're looking for "where the dog is buried," we have to go back to 2012, when Stoychev was the national coach. The coach learned about his dismissal not from the federation, but from the announcer in "Arena Armeec" hall. We all remember the subsequent events.
In conclusion, we are not worried about Radostin Stoychev's future. He has one of the richest resumes in this sport. It's possible we'll see him at the helm of a team from Turkey, where he became champion with Halkbank. He might take over another Italian team. And why not a national team? Yes, he is a "sharp stone," but... he understands the game. We wish him success!