Kekso Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Hello to you all. I'm a 21 year old Law student living in Cluj, Romania (home of Chelsea's Champions League rivals) and have been a Blues fan since the days of Dan Petrescu. I assume CFR Cluj are relatively unknown to most of you, so I would gladly answer any questions you may have on the team and city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruh Buh Juh Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 How weird that a Chelsea fan is living in Cluj when in Cluj's first year in the CL they draw Chels!! What are the odds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loz Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Cheers Kekso - much appreciated. What are the Cluj fans like in terms of getting a good atmosphere going for the game? I had a quick read up on the club and noticed that a large amount of cash has been spent doing the stadium up and doubling its capacity from 12,500 to 25,000. Is it likely to be full for the CL ties? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekso Posted September 14, 2008 Author Share Posted September 14, 2008 I know! Too bad I won't be able to wear my shirt at the game without risking harassment from local team fans (which I support as well to some extent). But perhaps I'll get an autograph or two from the players/managing staff if I wander around their hotel or training ground. @loz: It will definitely be full. Teams like Chelsea generate a craze. Even people who aren't Cluj or Chelsea fans are likely to come from neighbouring counties and even countries just to see the game, like when Real Madrid played in Bucharest against Steaua a couple of years ago. As for the atmosphere, it's nice - there's chanting, flags, but nothing out of the ordinary. You have to take into account that the club was playing in the lower leagues only a few years ago, when match attendance was into the low hundreds. So there's only a small nucleus of old fans, the rest have come with the club's recent money spending and successes. I expect few rowdy fans and more general football enthusiasts who would just like to enjoy a Champions League game against last year's finalists. The management is very western-minded, so they'll probably go to great lengths to turn the game into something memorable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virosh Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 How weird that a Chelsea fan is living in Cluj when in Cluj's first year in the CL they draw Chels!! What are the odds? Exactly as weird as a Chelsea fan and Sofia resident when in Levski Sofia's first year in the CL we ( I am a fan of both teams) drew Barca, Chelsea and Werder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Chelsea Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 where did the name cluj come from and what does it mean?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 where did the name cluj come from and what does it mean?? Cluj is the romanian name of the city where the club is located. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekso Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Shamelessly stolen off Wikipedia: The first written mention of its name – as a Royal Borough – was in 1213 under the Latin name Castrum Clus. With respect to the name of this camp, it is widely accepted as a derivation from the Latin term clausa – clusa, meaning "closed place", "strait", "ravine". [...]The Roman Empire conquered Dacia in AD 101 and 106, during the rule of Trajan, and the Roman settlement Napoca was established thereafter. Possible etymologies for Napoca include the name of some Dacian tribes like the Naparis or Napaei, the Greek term napos (νάπος), meaning "timbered valley" or the Indo-European root *snÄ-p-, "to flow, to swim, damp". Independent of these hypotheses, scholars agree that the name of the settlement predates the Roman conquest (AD 106). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 shamelessly edited, indeed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolozsv%C3%A1r#Etymology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekso Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Why would I "edit" anything? I picked the most relevant phrases. The article is there for everybody to see anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moi Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 (edited) In fact you edited it really well, selecting for us the most interesting and relevant information. Thanks for taking the trouble to do that. I have since looked on Google for images of Cluj and found some lovely pictures of your town. That is something I would never have thought to do, if you hadn't introduced yourself and your country. By the way, your English is excellent. Edited September 15, 2008 by moi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Why would I "edit" anything? I picked the most relevant phrases. The article is there for everybody to see anyway. you simply left out everything referring to other nations in the city's history and we both know why you did it. but i don't think this is the place for an argument like this, so i put it simple. i have nothing against the romanian people and i always opposed all the nationalist crap going around in this country. so i kindly ask you please be nice and stop this propaganda. there's absolutely no need for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moi Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 He was asked where the name came from and what it meant. He specifically answered that question and quoted his source, so that if we wanted to we could find out more for ourselves. Had he been as devious as you are insinuating, he would not have done that. People in Britain are aware of the history of Romania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 sorry moi, i'm not buying that. but i won't pursue this argument as i think this forum is not the right place for it. (even though i could make some moderately clever retorts about this french intervention :D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moi Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 sorry moi, i'm not buying that. but i won't pursue this argument as i think this forum is not the right place for it. (even though i could make some moderately clever retorts about this french intervention :D) I wouldn't really call this an argument, but I would point out that IF it is an argument, you are the one who started it. And indded this is not an appropriate place for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barn Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 So does that mean it's finished or do we have 3 pages of petty squabbling to ruin what was looking like being a very good thread? Good to hear from you Kekso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkw Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 sorry moi, i'm not buying that. but i won't pursue this argument as i think this forum is not the right place for it. (even though i could make some moderately clever retorts about this french intervention :D) i think your totally wrong in this undertow. this is a football forum, not a political one, so theres no place whatsoever on here for it. i honestly cant see why you felt the need to bring it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 go check the link i posted and compare the original text to the one posted here. the difference speaks for itself. that's my problem. anyone who has knowledge in the eastern european history surely knows how sensitive this issue is and why should informations about it always be corrent, balanced and not manipulated. that's why i couldn't let this go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maksimov Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 This is in the Champions League section of the forums, so let's keep the politics out of it and concentrate on the football, ok? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekso Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 you simply left out everything referring to other nations in the city's history and we both know why you did it.but i don't think this is the place for an argument like this, so i put it simple. i have nothing against the romanian people and i always opposed all the nationalist crap going around in this country. so i kindly ask you please be nice and stop this propaganda. there's absolutely no need for it. Propaganda?! I was asked where the name of the city came from. "Cluj" comes from "clusa" (ravine) and "Napoca" is the name of the ancient Roman settlement. That is where the name comes from and that is what I wrote. Period. When asked where the name "London" comes from, I doubt any Englishman will mention the Vikings, the Battle of Hastings, the Great Plague and the Gunpowder Plot. Get over yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makelele Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Propaganda?! I was asked where the name of the city came from. "Cluj" comes from "clusa" (ravine) and "Napoca" is the name of the ancient Roman settlement. That is where the name comes from and that is what I wrote. Period. When asked where the name "London" comes from, I doubt any Englishman will mention the Vikings, the Battle of Hastings, the Great Plague and the Gunpowder Plot. Get over yourself. no worries Kekso...he's just overreacting...welcome...tell us about your squad, who are the major threats going forward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertow Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 yeah, sure... you know what? feel free to prove me wrong in a pm if you can, and i'll post my apologies here. that would be my next post in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekso Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 tell us about your squad, who are the major threats going forward? Thanks for trying to bring the thread back on track. Well on paper it's Yssouf Koné. You might have heard of him, he played against Chelsea last year while at Rosenborg. But frankly I haven't seen him play much and during interviews he seems rather bored and uncaring, so don't expect him to run his legs off. The other players form a tightly-knit group though. While playing together they've won the Championship, Cup and tickets for this Champions League adventure. They've worked their way up and for most of them it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch the interest of major European clubs. As a downside, they have very little international experience. They'll play with passion, but make mistakes. Apart from Koné, Cluj only have one goalmouth striker: "Didi" Silva, who likes to flick it in from the six-yard box. Not very spectacular, but it gets the job done. They generally crowd that area, block the keeper's view and then either pass it to Didi for a quick finish or have somebody shoot from inside the penalty area, so the team scores a lot using its attacking midfielders and wingers - like Trica, Dubarbier or Culio. No set piece specialist, so they prefer to just cross it into the box, which is just what English defenders are used to. But in regular play they use short passes a lot - I guess it comes natural for a team made up of technical Portuguese, Argentinian and Brazilian players. Romanian football itself is somewhat similar to that of Portugal, only less technicality and more power. Also, Cluj are better than Levski. You have to remember that they've won the Romanian first league and behind them on second place were Steaua, a team that is part of what I like to call upper middle class European football. In the past three years Steaua have defeated teams like Valencia (2-0), Dynamo Kyiv (4-1), Galatasaray (1-0), Lens (4-0), Betis Seville (3-0), Besiktas (2-1) or Standard Liege (2-0). Sincer Cluj have no real European pedigree, I can only compare them to Steaua.. And last season they were better. I wouldn't want to pass judgment before I see Cluj play against Roma tonight, but at this moment I think Chelsea should win both games, with a two or three goal difference on SB. you know what? feel free to prove me wrong in a pm if you can, and i'll post my apologies here. that would be my next post in this thread. I think I'll pass. I joined these forums to be of some help to Chelsea fans, not to nitpick and get into online disputes about things that are irrelevant to football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkw Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 I think I'll pass. I joined these forums to be of some help to Chelsea fans, not to nitpick and get into online disputes about things that are irrelevant to football. i think maybe you should just ignore undertow, he obviously has a stick up his arse about something, but it has no place on here. thanks for the info mate, hope you do well this season, though not against us obviously..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWestwayWonder Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Kekso, Firstly I wanna thank you for all the info, too, and welcome you to the site. Please dont take the musings of a few personally, but we really are a welcoming bunch on here, and as you say, whatever understandings there are its secondary to football. I had a friend in HS who was born and raised in Bucharest and he actually had a soft spot for Chelsea in much the same way, via Petrescu. It must be something special that the Chels are going to come to Cluj so you can see them firsthand. Im sure it will be a competitive fixture as sides with something to prove usually come out the strongest. Hopefully, our boys dont underestimate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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