He agreed to be a “puppet coach” at FCSB and now reveals what Gigi Becali made him do

In a dialogue on “Prietenii lui Ovidiu” the technician explained exactly the conditions under which he arrived at the club patronized by Gigi Becali and why the collaboration ended so quickly.

The objective was clearly set from the beginning: the title or nothing! Even though FCSB had, in that play-off, the best points total and lost the championship in the penultimate stage, the contract was not extended.

The former coach of the red-blues also clarifies one of the most controversial topics surrounding the team: the involvement of the boss in technical decisions.

Although the public image often suggests otherwise, Teja claims that Gigi Becali did not impose either the team or the changes during matches on him, the discussions between the two being, he says, more consultative.

VIDEO. Mihai Teja: “Mr. Becali told me from the beginning: “Look, I always want to have a discussion at the beginning of the week””

– Mr. Teja, you played 15 matches at FCSB. 9 wins, 5 draws, one defeat.
– Yes.

– How did you arrive and why did you leave?
– When Mr. Gigi Becali called me and I spoke with him, he told me that at FCSB they only talk about the title or the Cup. They were no longer in the Cup, so they were in second place, four or five points behind first place, CFR Cluj. And he told me that if I come I know the conditions. Only if I win the championship is the contract automatically extended. I agreed, I said yes. We lost that championship by one point to CFR, a strong team and they had won three more titles before.

We lost in the penultimate stage, I think, the championship. We had only one defeat against Viitorul lui Gică Hagi, they beat us at home, after which we had no defeat. At that time, I scored the highest number of points in the play-offs. And we lost the championship by one point to CFR Cluj

Mihai Teja, former FCSB coach

– And then he gave up.
– My contract was no longer valid, normal. Mr. Becali called me: “Sir, look, that's it, you know that was the condition, to win…”.

– That means you didn't reach the goal.
– The contract is interrupted, so we are not extending it. And it seems normal to me, because I know what Steaua means, I was a coach, I played there, I know what performance means. At Steaua, at Craiova, at Dinamo you have to win trophies.

“The line-up didn't! We've actually discussed it…”

– But how did the collaboration go? Does it fit? Was he making the team? Change players?
– No! When I spoke with Mr. Becali, he told me from the beginning: “Look, I always want us to have a discussion at the beginning of the week, so that I also have my ideas, you tell me what is happening, how you think, how you see.”

Gigi Becali and Mihai Teja

– Which is logical.
– Which is logical and I myself insisted. I spoke with Mr. Becali, I told him: “It's better if that's all we discuss to discuss at the beginning of the week, because if you prepare the week it's much harder to change afterwards”. Mr. Becali always agreed, he called me and I tell you honestly, he never called me to tell me to play with one player or the other.

– He didn't make the formation.
– The band didn't do it!

– The changes did not dictate them?
– I once had a discussion with Mr. Becali about Moruțan and Florinel Coman. At one point he told me to play Moruțan on the left. And I told him that there are two young players with great quality, with great value, only Florinel Coman is his job there, it's his position and he gives a much higher yield there. We talked about this, after Moruțan didn't play very well in that position, Florinel Coman came in, scored about two goals and agreed on that.

– I understand.
– Indeed, we were still discussing the possibility that Moruțan was very young and a talented player at the time. To play more or things like that for the future of the team, for business, to be sold further. So this was the collaboration with Mr. Becali. Indeed there were certain matches when he did not like a player.

“Mihai Stoica wasn't the transmission belt?”

– Does it not ring during the match? “Put it in, take that out, put that in?”.
– No. He was probably talking to the people nearby. We had the team manager who stayed with us all the time.

– Ianuli, right? Good, but Ianuli could not make the changes without your approval.
– No, never. This never happened.

– Mihai Stoica wasn't it the transmission belt?
– He was sitting in the stands. He sat on the bench in the early stages, after which he said he was going to the stands.

– So practically the decisions were not taken by the management.
– First of all, the team's decision was not made by Mr. Becali. Many times he told me: “You are the coach, you decide, tell me what it is about, then we will see how things go.” But he didn't come to say: “This is the team, they are playing…”. No, that's never happened and he's never come to a practice or said why he's not training.

– Now he officially declares that he decides, that he decides everything.
– I think dialogue is the most important and it depends on what dialogue means. If you have several dialogues with Mr. Becali during the week, I think it seems the most OK. You have to make the team and train the players who you think will face the game on Sunday and then you try to motivate them, you try to arrange them…

“I was surprised that FCSB is not in the play-offs”

– Is he good at football or is he just talking from hearsay? What does Mihai Stoica tell him, what do others tell him?
– There are things he sees, but I don't think he can be a coach. I mean, I don't think so. But know that they are, there were certain moments when he said: “Lord, look…”. Many times we agreed that what I saw, he also saw at certain times.

Mihai Stoica, president of the FCSB Board of Directors / Photo source: Facebook Mihai Stoica

– Of course he learned with time.
– As a coach, he certainly can't figure it out.

– Are you surprised that FCSB did not qualify for the play-offs?
– Yes, I was surprised. I was surprised because they have a very, very good batch. She is the champion of the last two editions of the championship, an extraordinary season in Europe. Game strength, exactly what Craiova shows FCSB showed in the last two editions of the championship. So I never expected them not to be able to catch the play-off.

“I took 300 euros for beating FCSB with Metaloglobus”

– How was it after you beat FCSB? It was practically the most important victory in the Superliga.
– A moment in which we really enjoyed, but not excessively. When you are in last place, our objective was different: to save us from relegation. It wasn't necessarily the goal to beat FCSB. FCSB is clearly a strong team and we wanted to win even more against them, but any team, any win we would have been happy because we were getting the points and starting to be there almost to reach our goal.

– For them it was a heavy slap. What premium did you get after the victory with FCSB?
– No premium, normal premium.

– How much was it for the win?
– 300 euros. No matter who you beat. This is how things are with us, from this point of view, Mr. Imad said: “Sir, this is the budget.” With this budget, the money was always up to date. In the summer when you go you have to have a strategy. I spoke with Mr. Imad from the beginning and told him that it will be very difficult to save ourselves if we do not increase the team's budget a little. I was told then that yes, it would be 4,000, maybe 5,000, but after that it was reduced…

– Budgets don't play, but if you don't have a budget, you can't bring players.
– There is a big discrepancy between us and the others, and the other teams. Leicester won the championship in England just like that, a miracle happened, right? Very big budgets indeed, but we know well that at the last place or those who promote in England they have a very big budget and they can build. But here the discrepancy is very big, because the budget you probably have in League 2 is also an average one… I mean, if we think about Sepsi, Târgu Mureș, all the other teams have a much bigger budget.