Article by Narcis Drejan – Published Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 11:43 / Updated Tuesday, April 28, 2026 11:43
Beyond the results, beyond the generations, beyond the name, Craiova has always been an excess, a state that could not be tamed, a continuous fever in which victory had to be not only achieved, but burned to the end, and defeat was not accepted, but torn from the flesh, with nerve, with reply, with revolt.
That's how Oltenians are, they burn through everything, they talk a lot, 90% exaggerating, and at football, in Banie, coaches were not evaluated, they were consumed quickly, without rest.
Even when they came with ideas, with structure, with the promise of a construction that would last more than a season, reality caught up with them like an old debt. Mirel Rădoi felt this perhaps the most clearly, he took Science, took it to Europe, set up the lot, gave it a direction that was beginning to bind, and yet insufficient, because in Bănie it is not enough to convince. You have to fully integrate into the city, in the spirit of the Olten people, there is no room for indulgence!
The man who does not raise his voice
The arrival of Filipe Coelho was not greeted with elation, but with a lot of noisy skepticism that usually accompanies any start in Craiova. It was a silent, almost restrained curiosity, as if the club itself was tired of reacting before it understood, it was said that he was Bento's second-in-command, that he didn't train anyone, that he was a Portuguese who appeared out of nowhere.
A coach without a flashy biography, without trophies to press on the table, without broad gestures, but with a discipline of ideas that only requires a little time. And the time, the peak, precisely in Craiova, seems to have been offered to him by Mihai Rotaru. His 3-4-3 is not a show, but a lesson in order, distances, patience, not to lose yourself when the game starts to pull you in all directions. Because many say that Rădoi played super offensively, and Coelho is not spectacular.
Filipe Coelho // photo: Cristi Preda (GSP.ro)
Yes, but now, the team has started to play calculatedly, it gives the impression that it does not need a star, but the team does everything, as in the anthem, for better or for worse!
The pressing silence
In an area of Oltenia where every word becomes a verdict, and every public appearance ignites a spark, where every rumor is already lamentable, Mihai Rotaru's decision to withdraw the club from the noise is not only a change of strategy, but a form of discipline rarely found in Romanian football.
Fewer explanations, fewer justifications, fewer promises, and with them, fewer cracks. That's also because most of the time Craiova doesn't lose because of their opponents, but because of the echo they create around them. And Craiova, for the first time after a long time, can no longer hear itself.
The last 4 steps
Cup final, first place, a season finale that calls for that self-control, which Craiova has lacked for over 30 years. Here it is not complicated to reach the top when you come from running, from enthusiasm, from a form that pushes you forward, it is more difficult to stay there when everything slows down, when every step becomes calculated, when every mistake takes on weight. And now Craiova is no longer playing against others, it is playing against its own nature.
And you know why? Oltenia has never been a place of balance, there is no way, all the writers of the area have said it, it was a place of beautiful excess, of experiences that do not ask for permission, of reactions that come before thought. And Craiova University was the perfect expression of this way of being: intense, seductive, impossible to keep under control for too long.
Now, however, something is changing, that the fire has not disappeared, only that it is no longer thrown into the air at every opportunity.
And if it lasts like this for 4 more stages, it will be the time of the explosion, after an oppressive silence, after all those promises with 3-4 goals, the cup, the championship, Europe and avoiding relegation.
And like any Oltean, they put evil in front of them, so if it doesn't succeed, then it won't be a surprise, but just a return to what Craiova has always been: a story told with too much fire to be carried through to the end. But the Oltean also says: but let's not put evil in front!
