Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian football player and manager.
Nicknamed "Little Napoleon", Teașcă was known for his controversial training methods for which he would get in conflicts with the players.[1][2][3] He was the manager of Romania on two occasions, first in 1962 and then in 1967.[1][2][3] He had one experience outside Romania when he managed Turkish side Fenerbahçe from 1970 to 1971.[1][2][3][4] Teașcă has a total of 323 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 120 victories, 64 draws and 139 losses.[2][5]
Playing career
Constantin Teașcă was born on 25 September 1922 in Giurgiu, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1932 at local club, Acvila.[1][2][3] In 1940 he started to play for Acvila's senior team, being a midfielder, then in 1946 he went to play for Concordia Ploiești.[1][2][3] In 1950 he decided to end his playing career at age 28, the highest level he played being the Romanian second league.[1][2][3]
Constantin Teașcă was known for trying to implement ideas derived from professional football as demanding quality training grounds in order to protect the playing surface on which the official games were played, also he tried to control the menu of the players, excluding harmful foods and drinks and he cared what his players would do outside of training.[1][2][3] However he was also known for his controversial training methods like making players run by carrying bags on their back with 80 kilograms for which he would get in conflicts with them.[1][2][3]
"U" Craiova player, Ilie Balaci said about him:"In theory, Teașcă wasn't a bad coach. But he had an incredible style of confounding people. Plus he was using some Stalinist training methods. He made us run for hours with 70–80 kilo bags on our backs. Well, the sack was heavier than Geolgău! How can you make fun of some kids like this?! Teașcă was big only because of the journalists".[2] Another Craiova player, Nicolae Tilihoi said:"For Teașcă, the players were a kind of slaves. When we won, he said it was his merit. When we lost, it was our fault, that we sold him! He had a great deal with prime secretaries, with influential journalists, that's why he had such a good image".[2]Argeș Pitești star, Nicolae Dobrin's conclusion about Teașcă was:"Poor Titi, everywhere he went he made stadiums, fields, only teams he couldn't make".[1][2][3]
Writing
Constantin Teașcă was also an avid reader and a writer, with witty remarks that made him a celebrity, having written a total of five volumes:[1][2][3]
Fotbal și fotbaliști la diferite meridiane (Football and footballers at different meridians) (1962)
Fotbal la poalele Cordilierilor (Football at the foot of the Cordilleras) (1966)
Din nou pe meridianele fotbalului (Again on the meridians of football) (1967)
Ce rău v-am făcut? (What harm have I done to you?) (1976)
Păpușarii (The puppeteers) (1984)
Competiții de neuitat (Unforgettable competitions) (1989)
Quotes
Constantin Teașcă was known for criticizing his players lack of professionalism, especially in his books:[1][2][3]
"Eftimie asks me for permission to stay late in the city with his wife (at a restaurant) until 11 o'clock. I admit them even until 12 o'clock. At 3 in the morning, without his wife but with... a mistress, he was at the "Melody" bar. How can you trust him?"
"Varga is absent from training for no reason. I checked, it turns out that around 5 p.m. he was under the table in the "Universității" restaurant and then "towed"... via Pantelimon."
"Varga calls the ambulance at his home, everyone gets impatient, except me, because checking the medically equipped vehicle's route I find that he was transported to... alcohol detoxification!"
"Pârcălab, swollen from a hard and very... wet night, with his collar up and his head hidden in his coat, like a turtle in its shell, comes to the edge of the field, where I was leading the training session, and tells me that he doesn't feel fit for work. I couldn't resist anymore...and in a minute I told him everything he had done and who he really is. He disappeared like in Iosefini's illusions and after five minutes he was working side by side with his teammates."
"Pârcălab went to the Federation and complained (or better said he whispered in their ear) that he is a good, decent boy, but that Unguroiu and Vasile Alexandru are taking him to drink. Probably one was opening his mouth and the other was pouring!"
"Ivan, Uțu, Eftimie, after the team's return from a match in Galați, stopped at a restaurant and didn't leave until the next day, when the place had to be cleaned up."
"Beldeanu? He smokes like a Turk, he drinks like a circus bear drinks milk and gambles for money like a loser in life! He is the daily customer of the restaurants and incites the players to riot"
"When it comes to football, assistant sanitary agents become university professors, plasterers - famous painters, and the spectator in the stands - the most authorized coach. I wasn't upset that I was changed twice from the national team, because I was lost in such a large number of super specialists"
