“Look, it looks sad! We returned 40 years ago, I started depression” “Savurous stories with” Grande “from the beginning of the career

A visit to the Arena in Slatina is equivalent to a teleport back in time. Built 101 years ago and passed through five “hairdressing” operations, the last time in 2010, the stadium with a capacity of 10,000 places is currently hosting the matches of the CSM second division, financed with millions of euros of town hall, without the right to promote in L1. And in the early 1980s, when Dumitru Dragomir was president at Viitorul Scornicești, the band from the city of Nicolae Ceausescu had moved his headquarters here.

“In the space where the parking is, I was doing training on a slag field. I have traces on my knees since then. I feel I returned 40 years ago. Nothing was done at the stadium.“, The former international Gheorghe Craioveanu, 57 years old, introduced us to the complex, which became the surprising president of CSM Slatina.

“From here Dănciulescu, Niculescu, Luțu left. It would be a shame to lose the children of the city”

“This season and possibly the next will be transition, to strengthen in the second division, and then try to attack the promotion. And my primordial role is to deal with the Academy, apart from the affairs of the first team. After the first seven stages of L2, CSM Slatina is in 15th place, with six points (one victory, three draws).

He explains: “This city has given very good players, starting with Dănciulescu, Niculescu or Luțu. And it would be a shame to lose the children from here, when they could grow at home and perform for Slatina at the beginning of the road. I am the fan of the idea that if you bring outside players, there will be people who make them.

It all happened very quickly with my coming to Slatina. They called me, they called me a citizen of honor, I am convinced that my parents enjoy from there, from above, and they proposed to me. Mayor Mario de Mezzo told me he would like to come next to the team and I accepted because I liked the project. I have two more desires in life: to see Craiova champion and promote Slatina in Liga 1, with the children in the academy
Gheorghe Craioveanu, president of CSM Slatina

Dănciulescu, Niculescu, Luțu and former colleagues of theirs have recently met in Slatina, at the inauguration of the “Ion Pîrvulescu” sports base. Photo: Facebook/Clubulportivmunicipalslatina

He was a ball child at FC Olt's matches: “The audience shouts” Look at them, acuș, acuș, gives you two locksmiths! “

Craioveanu played three seasons in Slatina right at the beginning of his career, in L4 and L2: the builder (1987-1988) and the metallurgist (1988-1990). Further, he then took the step to Drobeta Tr. Severin (1990) and U Craiova (1991).

He recalls: “At the builder I had a salary 2,400 lei, plus a bonus on the” Sestache “from the director. I escaped a first to motivate me. I gave about seven goals in six months, after which I signed with the metallurgist, where the coach was Constantin Stefan, Nea Fane Marlau, as I said to us.

The band of FC Olt Scornicești in the 1980s played some of the matches in Slatina, where it filled the stadium at important matches

Add: “I was also a ball child at some of the parties played at Slatina by FC Olt. He was playing with the full stadium, especially when the big teams came. The world was sitting and on the stairs. I do not forget a match with the star, when the audience shouted” Look, now, he gives you two locks! “

A player who I liked from FC Olt at that time was Haralambie Eftimie. But he was the only one who refused an autograph! When I reached another level, with that frustrating episode, I promised myself that I would stop and give autographs to children. For a kid is maximum joy to get a signature from the idol of
Gheorghe Craioveanu, president of CSM Slatina

“Ligament breaking after the party comrade did not allow the coach to change me”

“Grande” remains with the stories in the times spent on the old arena in Slatina: “The lawn is as unchanged, this has always been extraordinary. I started at the builder, where Nea Fane Marlau sent me to defend myself, that I was a little rotten.

Former dynamovist Constantin Stefan, said “Marlau”, was Craioveanu's coach in Slatina, in the late 1980s. Photo: pchdinamo.ro

Complete: “In fact, in Slatina I was running bad, I was a mountain cape, because the coach immediately changed. There was no specific pressure, but the claims were raised to the players. To give everything!”

And, in this register, an incident that endangered the medical state: “But the worst memory is from a derby with Caracal. I gave an empty, I also got a penalty before the break, when I chose an sprain. The coach wanted to change me, of course, but I had to play a comrade, and I have nothing to play. Ligaments I stayed on the cough for about four months.

I had a very good team at the metallurgist. I remember that I beat the fast here with 4-0. I had Mihai Răduț's father among my colleagues. He was dealing with sharing elbows to make room for me, and I had to put it in threads
Gheorghe Craioveanu, president of CSM Slatina

“I was walking like a rooster through the center”

Other episodes are still rolling from Craioveanu's memory: “Since I came to the SCM, I took the city at the step and I was thinking about the past times. I came to a location where an Albanian sold a great ice cream, some infernal queues were formed.

Craioveanu tells nostalgia about the time spent in Slatina almost four decades ago. Photo: Cristi Preda (GSP)

Plus a tasty episode, reported with a smile on my lips: “Do you know what I bought with the first money earned from football in Slatina? Some shoes with tassels, white socks and flared pants, to be in step with the fashion of the time. I was walking like a cock through the center.”

“I started depression when I saw what the stadium looks like”

Back to the actuality, to the deplorable state of the arena and to the situation of a team without the right of promotion, with legal actions missed to obtain in time the right of access to L1 in the current season.

Craioveanu revolves through the belly of the stadium, where the atmosphere is one of the 1980s, depressing: “Here, where is this athletics track next to the locker rooms, I was heating. The windows look awful too. Honestly, I started to depression when I saw what is here. It has to be changed, given with a paint in the first phase, cleaned, arranged, to look more normal. The construction, but the funds are blocked.

Indeed, CNI opened the tender procedure for a new stadium of 10,000 seats, 80 million euros, but everything is at the moment due to the austerity measures imposed by the Government.

What salaries are at CSM Slatina? I do not think it exceeds any 3,000 euros per month, which does not seem huge for the second league. And, as far as I know, no money was invested in transfers, only free players came. Our budget is somewhere around one million and something of the season per season
Gheorghe Craioveanu, president of CSM Slatina

“When I promoted Getafe, in 2004, it was the City Hall's team. Why should you not promote?”

Craioveanu spent four seasons in Getafe (2002-2006), the club where he also ended his career. Photo: Imago

And he finally comments the comedy of the second league, with a lot of teams without the right of promotion, including CSM Slatina.

“When I climbed the first division with Getafe, in 2004, the team was of the town hall, five million euros for the club. Why was it in Spain, and in Romania is it not possible? I am not good at legal issues, but we risk getting into a ridiculous situation. What do we do if the first six play-off bands will not have the right to promote? Do we put the Muscel in the first league, which should have been in the third division? ”Craioveanu concluded.