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Angry mayor to train troubled Bulgarian club

SOFIA (Reuters) - The mayor of Bulgaria's southwestern town of Simitli has taken over as temporary coach of local second division club Septemvri in an attempt to boost team morale following a run of poor results. "I'll be training the team for the home match against (second-placed) Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa (on Saturday)," Apostol Apostolov, a former top flight referee, told local media. The municipality of Simitli is the club's main sponsor. Septemvri, who have never competed in Bulgaria's top division, are 11th in the domestic second division. The Simitli-based club failed to win in five successive matches, picking up only a point and scoring twice. "It's an insult to the fans and the entire football community in Simitli," Apostolov said. "They just didn't play seriously in the last few matches." In happier times, Septemvri reached the Bulgarian Cup semi-finals in 2012 after knocking out then-holders CSKA Sofia in the quarter-finals. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Pritha Sarkar)