Rapid Bucharest Fans Riot; Coach Suspended.

By: chris | October 2nd, 2008

If you’re looking for a place to find fantastically dramatic happenings and off-beat footballing stories, Romania, even Eastern Europe as a whole, is probably your place. If you’re a coach looking for an owner who isn’t an entire suit short of a full deck, it probably isn’t.

As is the case with small-ish Eastern European league, the capital’s team(s) hold something of a monopoly over the league. No different in Romania, where until last year Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid Bucharest were running the whole show. Cluj took the first title from a non-Bucharest based squad since 1990-91 last season, becoming only the second team since 1980 to hold the silver. Safe to say they’ve got some high expectations in the capital.

So when things don’t go so well, as has been the case with Rapid, sitting in 11th place, people start to get a bit upset. Throw in today’s 1-1 draw with VfL Wolfsburg which sent them packing from Europe and pandemonium is sure to ensue.

Riot police detained 12 supporters after angry fans threw stones at club owner Fahti Taher and shareholder George Copos following the 1-1 first round, second leg draw with Germany’s VfL Wolfsburg that sent them out 2-1 on aggregate…..Some 1,000 supporters protested against Peseiro and the club’s officials, accusing them of incompetence, during and after the match. About 200 riot police then detained the dozen violent fans who will be fined, according to a police spokesman.

Violence in Eastern European football? Never!

But as ever with Romanian football, which has been hit one corruption charge after another after another, it doesn’t stop there and only gets better. The owner, instead of understandably firing coach Jose Peseiro has “suspended” him immediately, both in response to the losses and, presumably, to placate the fans. Suspending instead of firing not because he thinks they’re soulmates and wants to work thing out through much sacrifice and counseling, but because Jose signed a contract just this past summer which states the club must pay him a €500,000 bonus if he’s canned. Wonderful foresight for the Portuguese gaffer, not so much for the Rapid board.

And Pereiro is going to stay suspended while they get a new coach:

“We’ve decided that Peseiro is suspended,” Taher told reporters, adding that the club’s deputy coaches would lead the team until a new coach is appointed.

Something tells me Jose’s lawyers are going to earn a lot of man hours on this; something else says, considering it’s Romanian football, it won’t matter.