Article by Alexandru Barbu, Daniel Grigore – Published Wednesday, 05 November 2025, 12:18 / Updated Wednesday, 05 November 2025 12:21
Adrian Bumbescu, 65 years old, played under the command of Emeric Ienei, contributed to the greatest performance in Romanian football, the European Champions Cup in 1986, and now reacts, obviously affected, to the death of the legendary former coach.
Emeric Ienei, the great gentleman of Romanian football, died today, at the age of 88, due to a concussion. He had health problems for many years and was constantly cared for.
The tragic news was also commented by one of the iron defenders that Ienei had under his command throughout his career. It is about Adrian Bumbescu, part of the team that achieved the greatest performance in the history of Romanian football.
Adrian Bumbescu: “Nea Imi was like a father to us!”
“I just came from training (no – from Steaua), I stayed with Oprița on the field. In the car, when I was going home, someone called me and said. I couldn't believe it, I was in tears. What can I say about her Imi… She took me by surprise too, I didn't believe it.
I didn't know he was in trouble. I know he was at an advanced age, but I also saw him in a recent interview, I saw a photo of him. We were talking about the holidays, I wished him a happy birthday, but lately I haven't really caught him on the phone, the lady who took care of him answered me.
When I came to Steaua, Halagian was the coach. After 7 stages he left and Imi and Iordănescu came. Many times I listened to your advice, he knew how to talk to you. He was like a father, you had someone to talk to. If you were tired during training, you told him and he understood, compared to other trainers, who were more severe.
He was understanding, smoothed over any quarrels. He had a tact of his own. There was also a caterinca, to relax the atmosphere, it was a balancing factor during that period when we dominated football”, Bumbescu told GSP Live.
Bumbescu considers “nea Imi” to be the greatest Romanian coach, competing with Ștefan “Piști” Kovacs: “As a result, I would say that the best coach would be him and Piști Kovacs, but he is the only one to win the Champions Cup without foreignerscompared to nea Piști, who won with Ajax”.
Adrian Bumbescu: “When you're good, everyone licks you. That's the Romanian”
At the end of the intervention, the former defender was disappointed by the fact that Emeric Ienei was out of the limelight:
“We're not really valued except when we're in office. That's our system, people's thinking. When you're in office, 'bravo, bravo', and when you're not… When you're good, you have all the licks by your side. When you're gone, he forgets you. This is Romanian, education. Even now, years later, we don't perfect it.
It's the same in politics and sports, everywhere. Too bad, he could come to shows, televisions could show retrospectives, matches, talk. This is the only way we can raise the juniors. To see only Mbappe and Messi? Let's see who was a Cruyff, Maradona, Hagi, Dumitrache…”.
