Today, at 6 pm, in the sweltering heat, the Politehnica Timisoara football team met at the Dan Paltinisanu stadium.

In the absence of head coach Paul Codrea, who will join the team in a few days, the training session was led by assistant coach Antonio Foale and physical trainer Remus Datcu.

The present batch at the meeting

Goalkeepers: Murariu, R. Miklos (CSC Dumbravita), Balica

Full-backs: Bocșan, D. Radu, Vlaicu, Huminic, Curescu (Viitorul Șimian), A. Mada, M. Mircea (Phoenix Buziaș – return), Taub, Bain (CSU UVT), R. Ciurel (Ripensia), Porav (CSC Ghiroda and Giarmata Vii)

Midfielders: Pureca, D. Olariu, Butar (all Phoenix Buziaș – return), Boariu, M. Oprea, E. Adam, Marincu, Erceanu, Careba (Progresul Ezeriș), I.L. Rotariu (Progresul Ezeriș)

Forwards: Făgărășanu, Mura (both CSC Ghiroda and Giarmata Vii), R. Țurcaș, Pădurariu (Phoenix Buziaș), D. Popa (Crișul Chișineu-Criș), Ehling (CSC Ghiroda and Giarmata Vii – return), Cr. Lazăr (CSO Plopeni)

Some of them are on trial.

At today’s meeting, the club’s executive director Costel Pantilimon told us:

“We met today, it’s been quite a long holiday. I like to think that in football you don’t really have time for such long holidays, but the situation at the moment has made us have a longer holiday, but at the same time we have quite a long training period. Which is good for us. At the moment we’ve largely managed to put together a batch. We still have to strengthen the squad and in the next couple of weeks we have some players coming in, some players leaving, what we are trying to do at the moment is to build a competitive squad. A team that can successfully represent the colours of Poli.

There are a lot of youngsters, as I said before the holiday, we want to promote players from the academy. But we said let’s do it with our heads and not haphazardly. Some of them are already certainties, others still need to be confirmed, which means that they remain under our tutelage and will continue training with us. They’ll still have junior matches. But there are also some who will somehow, for their own good, go on loan, have senior matches and hopefully build a strong body for a senior competition.

The situation of Mura and Făgărășanu is a bit uncertain at the moment. We are waiting, we hope that today, if not tomorrow at the latest, we will have a final decision. At the moment we cannot make a decision either. I do not like the situation. These are things from the past, but somehow let’s say we have taken them over. I know most of it. The subject is a bit more complex. I give credit to the players because I’ve said it before, I have a lot of faith in all the guys who came into the Poli dressing room today. I’m waiting for more from the committees, let’s see what kind of sentences they come up for. Anything is possible, I don’t want to be faced with a fait accompli, so as to terminate with some that I somehow see as important players in the team’s gear. But, I trust that everything they have told me from the beginning and everything that the committees are currently looking at, I think it can go to an ok end and we don’t have any problems of not having them with us. As far as I know they will be allowed to attend training sessions, friendly matches, I think everything is taken into account from the moment the championship starts. It means a month, if it’s a month as is being touted, it would mean a number of matches. I don’t want that, but at least our guys know they shouldn’t be exposed in situations like that. The moment you become a professional player and you tend to become a professional player, there’s nothing to look for in a bookmaker or bet on. The two of them somehow realised the naivety they had, we discussed it, things are understood and from our point of view. We have seen the situation… that’s all, at the moment what we can say is that we are waiting for a final verdict and then we will analyse together what is the best solution for the club.

We have players on trial, we’re trying to get everything stabilized, medical visits, tests, to finish them this week. Clearly, from next week we can start in a straight line, together with the coach, the full training program.

I know everyone would like to know clear objectives… what I can say and I wouldn’t want to venture, is that the message we are sending out and everything we are doing, that the guys and the technical staff, be aware that every game must be won. At least at the moment these are the things we’ve discussed. The things that we are mapping out. As long as you start rebuilding, you have a lot of young players, we are trying to create and crystallize a strong squad that can have a strong message for everything that Politehnica history and club stands for.

It’s a disappointment, because we’ve been talking about demolition for a very long time, and we haven’t arrived. Others have been talking for a year and have already started to demolish. It’s frustrating, it’s already become a phenomenon to discuss this subject. It’s not pleasant, it gets tiresome at some point. I hope that everyone, starting with the local authorities, understands the importance of an infrastructure in such a big city. Just like you, I would very much like to see the first bricks laid over that first stadium, the little lego stadium that is being talked about, and then see the situation with Dan Paltinisanu.

At the moment we don’t have clear information, because it keeps happening, there are teams that have withdrawn, are about to withdraw… We are only making our plans in terms of sports and physical training. In the next couple of weeks we need to get some concrete information from the FRF, because it’s normal, you need to know in which series you will play and what plans we can make. It certainly won’t be serious (a non-relegation) I know that a few months ago there was talk: let’s start a reconstruction. Which is what I’ve been discussing. And it’s clear that the club forces you to perform and play the best football you can, to have the expected results. We want that, but as long as you try to stabilise a competitive squad, with a lot of players, you don’t have a certain guarantee.”

We’ll be back with the schedule of friendly matches.