dragos03

Actually, a team like Unirea should be an example. They had no money at all to spend and 90% of their team were free signings, either Romanian players released as "worthless" by other Romanian clubs or completely unknown foreigners. Top Romanian players are actually quite expensive, and it would be impossible for a team like Unirea to sign any good player from the better teams like Steaua or Dinamo Bucharest, the value of such players is over 2 million $ on the local market. Moreover, Unirea is so poor that they actually had to sell their best player (Bogdan Stancu) to Steaua before the start of the season, while their current best player (Dacian Varga) is on loan from a 2nd division Romanian club and they can't afford to buy him. In pre-season, Petrescu wanted to buy a Scot, Jim McAllister from Greenock Morton, and they couldn't afford him either. Yet, they even beat a team like Sevilla. That shows that a good manager can do miracles even without cash, if he has the ability to correctly rate the talent of unknown cheap (or free) players.

Hey all, I'm a Romanian football fan and just wanted to share a few thoughts. First of all, I don't know why all of you consider Unirea such a bad team to start with. Sure, they are an unknown team, with no money or fame, not even in Romania. But their previous results in this CL group should have been a warning: they only lost 2-0 to Seville in Spain (Seville who put 3 past Stuttgart and 4 past Rangers AWAY) and they managed a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart after a game when they were the better team and should have won. Unirea are not a top team by any means, but they have the right attitude: all their players run like hell and give 110% in every game, they never give up regardless of the opposition and they have a young coach with balls. Second: why do you all speak about Rangers being poor and signing expensive managers? There are good managers around that don't need an expensive wage or loads of transfer funds to make a team work. Dan Petrescu is the best example. He is the coach of a team that has no money AT ALL, no fans, no tradition. He took over a team that 4 years ago used to play in the Romanian 3rd Division. He scrapped up a team from free signings, players refused by other clubs, totally unknown foreigners like Brandan that were desperate enough to come play for what was then one of the worst teams in Romania, etc. Moreover, some of the best players in the team (Varga and Tiberiu Balan) are actually on loan from a team that plays in Romania's second division, Unirea is so poor that it can't actually afford to buy them. Yet, he made it. He won the Romanian league, shaming teams like Steaua or Dinamo Bucharest that have money, fans and fame. Referees were against his team, fans were against them too in any important game, even at home. But they did it. And now he humiliated Rangers, a team that has several players worth more than the whole Urziceni squad. You guys have enough cash to assemble a team that can do well in Europe. You've also got some of the best fans of the continent. You only need a good manager, someone like Petrescu, who's not afraid to send in a striker in the 17th minute if needed. If I were you, I'd consider Petrescu himself, he is cheap and knows British and European football well.