Filipe Coelho (45 years old) held the first press conference as head coach of the University of Craiova. Unlike Mirel Rădoi (44 years old), who had promised the title this season, the Portuguese did not throw himself into big words.
The Lusitanian coach signed a contract valid until the end of the season, with an option to extend it. Coelho revealed that he watched many games of the team from Bănie, before arriving in Romania, and when asked about the goal, he gave an evasive answer.
“I feel very happy, I am very motivated to be in a club as big as Craiova University. Together, I hope to build something special for this team. We need them all to be with us, to be much stronger together.
I did my homework, I know there was a very good team in the 80s, I think it was called Craiova Maxima. They played against Benfica in the semi-finals of the European Cups. In recent years, a lot of money has been invested to become champions again. I watched a lot of matches, to get to know the players, the team, the city, the atmosphere, everything. It’s part of our job as coaches.
Regarding the staff, we are working on it. In the next few days, we will make the announcement. The objective is to work every day with a lot of motivation. I will not work alone, as I said before, we must all be together, players, managers, supporters.
I can’t promise anything like that (no- winning the title). What I can promise is that we will work every day, give everything to win the next game and see what happens in the end. (nr- how does it feel when a coach has to carry on the work of the predecessor?) Nowadays, it happens often. What I have to do is to keep the good things and try to implement new ideas to achieve the goals.
I have seen many matches of Craiova, I am not talking about individual players. It’s a team with a lot of talent, good players, a mix between young and more experienced players and I really think we can build something very important together“, stated Coelho, during the press conference.
Toni Petrea (50 years old) will be the new secondary coach of the University of Craiova and will team up on the technical bench with the Portuguese “principal” Filipe Coelho. The former coach from FCSB was the favorite to take over the second division Poli Iasi.
At one point, the Portuguese technician received a question that put him in difficulty: “What will you do if the boss tries to impose the first 11 on you?“. It is known that Mihai Rotaru indulges in the “soup” of the coaches.
“Will this happen to me? It won’t happen to me! The boss, the coach and Mario (nr- Felgueiras) are in the same boat, we have to go together in the same direction. Never happened to me. We think about things… But why are you asking me this thing? I didn’t answer, I’m thinking about my work”, answered Filipe Coelho, visibly confused.
Coelho’s last head coaching position was at Vilafranquense, which he left in December 2017, which is about 8 years ago. He was subsequently Paulo Bento’s runner-up at Dangdai and the South Korean and United Arab Emirates nationals.
The Portuguese coach takes over Universitatea Craiova from 4th place in the SuperLiga, with 29 points, 6 points away from the leader Rapid. Olten’s next match is against FC Argeș, away.
Coelho arrived at the stadium for the presentation conference in a common, unassuming Ford car. The people of Olten were used to the luxury cars owned by Mirel Rădoi and Mihai Rotaru.
