Steaua Bucharest - An (eventual) rise to European glory

[EnemaOfTheState]

Title says it all - I'm gonna try and take Steaua Bucharest to the Champions League final. It'll take a while, they haven't even qualified for the Europa League yet! But it'll be fun managing a team I know nothing about, and I look forward to the challenge

If any of you were wondering about the Spurs thread I did, I stopped that due to it being a network game with two of my mates, and its rare that we can all get on at the same time - it makes sense to do my own game where I can update it much more frequently.

I'll try and present it in a unique way, but if you cant read it or the JPEGs are just too ****, I'll set it out similarly to how most people do it i.e. Results/report, screenies of important matches/league table.

Cheers!

FootballRomania.ro reports:

"Steaua Bucharest chairman Gigi Becali has once again confouded his critics and supporters alike, appointing an unknown Englishman as manager of The Red And Blues. Becali was said to be 'very excited' by the appointment of Ollie Riley, which somewhat makes up for the genuine lack of excitement on the part of the supporters, who have no idea who Riley is - we'll fill you in on the basics.

Riley enjoyed a relatively low-key journeyman career, playing in several different leagues in several different countries. After spells at Hajduk Split in Croatia and Young Boys in Switzerland, Riley experienced the high-point of his career at Aston Villa, playing as a dynamic attacking midfielder. After several solid performances, Riley was injured in a reserve game and didn't return to the game for 9 months. In this time, he fell out of favour at Villa, and was subsequently transfer listed the following summer.

After moving down the leagues in search of regular first team football, Riley had spells at Rochdale, Crewe Alexandra, and Farsley Celtic, before moving back to Hajduk to end his career. Towards the end of his playing time, he began to focus on coaching badges, and learnt all he knows in Croatia, namely at Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb.

Being only 35 years of age, the appointment of Riley as manager of Bucharest obviously comes as quite a shock, but the Englishman has already stated his intentions to do well and try his best to restore European glory to a club famous for winning the 1986 European Cup Final against Barcelona for the one and only time.

Only time will tell if the man from Stockport can weave any English - or Croatian - magic in Romania; we'll keep you posted."

 

[EnemaOfTheState]

This readable? oO)

Also, its obvious I used MS Paint, and it looks childish. But its about the story! So try and look past the bad calligraphy of the title.

 

[daniel_kg]

Nice one man i like it good luck with it all

 

[tomomate]

nice way to do this mate. very different. i'll be reading

 

[Div_Muzza]

Good star 3 wins out of 3 keep it up.

 

[EnemaOfTheState]

October

FC Unirea 1 - 2 Steaua Bucharest (Stancu [p], Onicas [p])
Romanian First League

This was a strange game, as all three goals were penalties. What's more, all three were definite penalties. Still, Steaua deserved to win the game, and a second Unirea goal never looked on the cards after Mihai Onicas' 63rd minute penalty. Three more points for Magic Steaua, and they climb to second with a game in hand.

Steaua Bucharest 3 - 2 En Avant de Guingamp (Ionescu 2, Stancu)
Europa League Group H

A very classy first-half performance from Bucharest meant that they went in to half-time three goals to the good, thanks to a brace from Andrei Ionescu and another goal for the in-form Stancu. However, the game wasn't completely over, as a late first-half goal from the vistiors' Francis Guth lowered the deficit to two goals. After only a minute of injury time was held up by the fourth official, and the goal being scored in the third minute, Steaua were understandably annoyed. Guingamp stormed out of the blocks in the second-half, and won themselves a questionable penalty, which Allaoui put away without too much fuss. A nervy second-half commenced, and Guingamp almost had their equaliser towards the end, rattling the Bucharest bar with a stinging shot from just inside the area. Referee Mike Dean will have made no friends in Romania with his performance, after playing seven minutes of injury time, when only four were scheduled.

Despite the shaky second 45 minutes, Steaua pick up the three points and sit second in the group, after Aston Villa's 5-2 demolition of Partizan Belgrade in the other group H fixture.

Municipal Targu Mures 3 (aet) 2 Steaua Bucharest (Moreno 2)
Romanian Cup 6th Round

Few were expecting Targu Mures to get anything from this cup game when Steaua strolled into town. However, the next ninety minutes held an upset of the biggest kind that the Municipal fans wouldn't even have dreamed of.

Things got off to a terrible start for the visitors as Polish left-back Pawel Golanski was given a straight red card for a vicious foul. Despite having a one-man advantage, Targu Mures couldn't make any headway in the first half and it remained 0-0 until half-time. However, a minute after the restart, Man Of The Match Apostu fired the home side into the lead, and the Municipal Ground erupted. Targu Mures defended stalwartly and it looked like the biggest upset of the round could be on the cards, until Dayro Moreno scored an exquisite goal from out of nowhere. Suddenly, the visitors had fire in the belly, and Moreno burst through once more, only to be dragged down by a Mures defender - penalty! Moreno dusted himself off before slamming in the penalty, with only 11 minutes to go.

At this point, Steaua would have looked to shut up shop and retain possession, but sloppy passing and a casual attitude allowed Apostu to steal in with his, and Targu Mures', second of the game in the 85th minute. Again, the fans were off their seats in anticipation of a shock win, but neither team could grab a goal in 90 minutes, so an additional 30 were scheduled.

In an end-to-end extra time, both teams had chances to go ahead, but it was the home side who scored, an embarrassing own-goal from Eugen Baciu giving them the lead. Baciu had attempted the clearance, but in his rush - with no opposition players around him - he sliced the ball into his own net. Targu Mures held on for the remaining ten minutes and registered one of the biggest cup shocks in the last few years.

After the game, FootballRomania.ro managed to speak with Bucharest boss Riley:

"I'm angry and disappointed. The players never looked like they wanted it, they expected a walk in the park today and got exactly the opposite. The early sending off really didn't help, but these things happen and we had to get on with it. After we took the lead, I think our fans could have been forgiven for thinking we had the win, but casual passing and wasteful play led to our downfall. Fair play to Targu Mures, they were the better side today and completely deserved their win, hats off to them."

When pressed about Golanski's straight red card, Riley was surprisingly forthcoming:

"It really wasn't a good challenge - the lad lost his head. I'm not blaming our defeat on Golanski, but that one moment of madness really didn't do us any favours. We will deal with him in-house."

Steaua Bucharest 1 - 2 FC Vaslui (Krivets)
Romanian First League

On the back of their shock cup exit, Bucharest were looking to get back to winning ways and extend their unbeaten run in the league. A bright start from the home side was rewarded with a good finish from summer signing Sergey Krivets after a flowing Steaua breakaway. However, two goals in ten minutes from Vaslui winger Marko Ljubinkovic gave the visitors a surprise two goal lead, and Bucharest seemed to lose interest. The second-half was a dull affair, and if anything, Vaslui looked like extending their lead. The fans sounded their opinions with booing as the full-time whistle went, and the string of poor Bucharest performances looked set to continue.

Steaua manager Ollie Riley on the fans booing at full-time:

"I'm quite shocked. We've made a great start to the campaign, this is our first league defeat, and yet the team is booed. Of course the fans will still have our defeat last week in mind, but thats no reason to hound us for our performance today. Vaslui played the better game, but I took a gamble at half-time and it didn't pay off. The buck stops with me, but there really is no reason to boo us so soon into the season."

LIVE FROM STEAUA STADIUM - WE BRING YOU STEAUA BUCHAREST VS. CFR CLUJ!

"Hello and welcome to Steaua Stadium! This game has already been billed as a potential title-decider, and from both teams' performances this season so far, you can see why. Both Steaua and Cluj have only lost once so far this season; Steaua's good run in Europe sees them second in their Europa League group, whilst Cluj have already registered their first piece of silverware this season, beating Unirea Urziceni 2-1 in the Romanian Super Cup. And here come the teams! We'll be back after this ad break..."

"...Here's Mara with the ball for Cluj, he plays it out to the wing, Mara's got it back, he's into the penalty area - and he's scored! Unbelievable stuff here in this huge derby game, the visiting side have the lead! Bucharest's form running up to this game has been wanting, but things don't look like improving - it's 1-0 to Cluj..."

"...You're absolutely right, and Golanski's three match ban after that vicious foul against Targu Mures really hasn't helped Steaua. However, here comes Sergey Krivets, he's stormed into the box! Great save keeper... but its fallen to Bicfalvi, surely, yes! Its there! Steaua have equalised through Eric Bicfalvi, right out of the blue!"

HALF TIME, AND ITS STEAUA 1 - 1 CLUJ...

"An interesting first-half. Mhmm, yes it's been even, but it looked as though Steaua were starting to click as the first-half ended. Anyway, back to the game, and it looks as though Steaua have switched to a 4-1-4-1. Mettomo on the ball, he's done a good job filling in at right-back today, forward to Krivets. Oh, that's a wonderful ball into Stancu! Stancu, into the area, surely he's taken it too wi- NO, ITS THERE! BOGDAN STANCU HAS PUT STEAUA 2-1 UP, AND WHAT A GOAL! Fantastic finish from a very tight angle, Stancu's impressive season continues, and Bucharest have turned the game around, its 2-1..."

"...Cluj have looked threating this half, but Steaua have really been in control and haven't looked like giving this lead up without a fight. We enter the last ten minutes here at Steaua Stadium, and its Krivets on the ball again - he's been excellent today - and he's taken it past the right-back, its a low ball into the area AND TANASE HAS SCORED! I DON'T BELIEVE IT, HE'S JUST COME ON, IT'S HIS FIRST TOUCH!! Cristian Tanase, on his return from injury, has scored his side's third! Surely that's the game now, Steaua have a two goal lead with only ten minutes to go..."

"...and there's the full-time whistle, a fantastic derby victory for Steaua, who are back to winning ways. As for Cluj, its their second defeat of the season, and they slip to third, with Steaua in fact leapfrogging them to take second place. Thanks for joining us today, be sure to tune in next week!"

So, a largely unimpressive month in terms of performance, but two wins from three in the league and our first continental points add up to a fairly good month as far as results are concerned. Obviously, the defeat in the Romanian Cup was a low point, but I guess it gives us chance to focus on the Romanian League and Europa League. Hope the update wasn't too wordy! <)

 

[Div_Muzza]

Just a small bumb mate keep in there.