Romanian football has been accustomed, for many years, to the growing club of players who “talents are born and hopes die“. Unfortunately, we now also have a coach who we can say has not reached his full potential.
Dan Petrescu. PHOTO: The Truth Archive
It’s about Dan Petrescu. When he debuted on the technical bench, he gradually gained the reputation of “Great Dan“, a fully deserved one. After forming “crazy gang” from Regie, with the charming team of Sportului Studențesc, Petrescu produced one of the biggest surprises in the history of the first league, winning the title with Unirea Urziceni. And in Cluj, on the bank of the CFR, “Great Dan” acquired the image “the coach-trophy“, with excellent results domestically and quite good, for the level of our football, in Europe. Against the background of these performances, it was said that Dan Petrescu could even end up on the bench of a team from the West.
Unfortunately, the string of good results for “Great Dan” he stopped in 2022. And now, when we have a little more and we enter 2025, the CFR coach is a big disappointment, in his current mandate in Gruia. And he is still being asked to resign from the stands, given that the team finished the accounts with the European cups in August, and in the championship won one match out of the last six, reaching a disappointing 5th place!
At the moment, Petrescu is only bound by his contract “concrete” which, according to unofficial information, contains a termination clause of one million euros! As this amount will never be paid by the club, the owner Neluțu Varga has started, for several weeks, the media operation by which he aims to convince Dan Petrescu to come to the negotiation table. Varga wants the termination to take place, on amicable terms, with minimal financial damages for CFR. The most advantageous option for the club would be for Petrescu to receive, as compensation, a few salaries. And so, certainly, an important amount will be reached, because “Great Dan“he has a super contract, of 30,000 euros per month! Unfortunately for CFR, only the results are not great, and hence the glass of Varga’s patience that was a bit full!
“Hole” in the budget: 10 million euros!
Club owners in Romania often have this sick habit of changing coaches like socks, following hasty decisions. In the case of Varga, however, his dissatisfaction with Dan Petrescu has solid arguments behind it. First of all, a financial one, given that the elimination from the Conference League play-off, after the double with Pafos (Cyprus), caused a “hole” of approximately 10 million euros in the club’s budget.
Of course, after this counter-performance, the hope was that the team, freed from the physical burden of European parties, would “break the clouds” in the championship. Which didn’t happen. Proof and the record of the last six rounds: 1 win, 4 draws, 1 defeat. CFR reached one point of 7th place, the first outside the play-off. Seeing this situation, Nelutu Varga went wild after 3-3 with Sepsi.
“I’m angry. For the first time, I question Dan Petrescu. I will have some discussions with the players in the next week, we will do a professional analysis and I will make a decision. What bothers me the most are the results, the game and the way the team is made. I don’t understand why we always have to be led, so that we can go out and attack. I don’t want us to struggle anymore“, said the CFR boss, in dialogue with prosport.ro.
And, given that the next four matches of Cluj are away, with FC Argeș (Romanian Cup, today, 9 p.m.), Gloria Buzău (championship, Friday), Dinamo (championship, November 8) and Oțelul Galați (championship, November 11) it’s easy to understand why the countdown has started for Dan Petrescu, at CFR.
Dan Petrescu, eight trophies in his coaching record
*6 champion titles: 5 with CFR Cluj (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22) and one with Unirea Urziceni (2008-2009)
*1 trophy won abroad: China Cup with Jiangsu Suning (2015)
*1 Romanian Supercup with ASA Tg. Mures (2015)
Five finals lost by coach Dan Petrescu so far
*Final of the Romanian Cup, 2007-2008 edition: CFR Cluj – Unirea Urziceni 2-1
*Supercup 2009: Unirea Urziceni – CFR Cluj 1-1, 3-4 on penalties
*Supercup 2019: CFR Cluj – Viitorul 0-1
*Supercup 2022: Sepsi – CFR Cluj 2-1
*FA Cup 2023 (South Korea): Pohang Steelers – Jeonbuk Hyundai 4-2
