With teams like Pandurii, Dinamo, Universitatea Craiova and U Cluj in his records, Dan Nistor says he has no intention of giving up football, revealing to GSP.ro how he finds the motivation to move on. In addition, he also spoke about the differences between him, at the beginning of his career, and the current generation of young footballers.
VIDEO. Dan Nistor, lesson for young footballers: “Dad taught me a very interesting thing”
– At 37 years old, where do you find the motivation, the desire to come to the stadium, the desire to leave among the last?
– I don't know, I might as well prove it to my son. I would like to prove to him that it is still possible at this age, that the years are just a number and it doesn't matter that I am still a dinosaur, old, retired and so on. I've heard all kinds of nicknames, but I really don't mind, on the contrary, I'm very ambitious. I don't swear at them, I just show them on the green rectangle and that's it, otherwise I have nothing to say to them. I don't know, I feel very well and practically in the morning, in the evening, I only have football in my head. Plus now I've started coaching school and I hope to be a good coach and help my team do good things.
– Does it annoy you when you see the younger ones not being as involved as the “dinosaurs”, as you say?
– Yes, they annoy me and I tell them every day, but you realize what's in their head, taking into account what technology is now and, I don't know, it seems something unreal to me to be 16-17 years old, to play in League 1 and you to, I don't know, give an example, not to go to the gym or come and sit all day on the phone.
– Yes...
– These things are coming! Babies, cars, I don't know, helicopters, planes and so on. These come along if you are a bit balanced and you go about your life the right way, but unfortunately the vast majority of them and you have countless examples… But another thing bothers me.
– That's right.
– Most of the players who finish this rule with Under 21, practically disappear, they don't even play in the lower leagues anymore. So I think that the problem is not with me, with you, with the coach, the biggest problem is with them. I think they should put much more order in their thoughts, in their daily life. Probably also certain people who are around them and probably give them bad advice. This can also be an impediment for them not to reach where they really want. Because what is happening these days, we couldn't have… I am referring here to the financial part, what money is being talked about these days. At the five strongest championships in Europe. To reach England, Italy, Germany, Spain, France is something… for a Romanian to reach now seems very, very difficult to me.
– When you look at today's young people and see that they have a real car park in the stadium parking lot, and you came with a Dacia crowded with other colleagues in League 1, maybe, shouldn't this also be an alarm signal for them that this is not how performance can be done?
– Dad taught me a very interesting thing. He said to me:Father, it is very, very important to have a number at home”. That is, when your mail arrives or you receive a package: this street, this address. Unfortunately, clothes, cars are more important to them, I don't know. For me, that's how I was raised, and I don't think that's a bad thing.
– Times have changed, but…
– Yes, but you have to have somewhere for your mail to come first. After which the rest. I went to Târgu Jiu with a Dacia 1300. It was a car of mine that took me from Rucăr to Târgu Jiu. You realize, with the Dacia 1310 I was doing four hours, five hours… If I tell the children now, I say: “Leave this one, put him in…”.
