Railway Journal: Can you draw a comparison between the football from 1967 and today’s football?
Sandu Neagu: There is a very great difference. In those time the focus was on the technical value of the players and nowadays they play very fast and in force.
For me as a football player it was very difficult to adapt, as I had a team of great value and it was difficult to climb your way up. It was hard to replace a couple like Dumitriu-Ionescu, or play instead of Codreanu or Nasturescu. I was promoted by Valentin Stanescu only after Clemenco left for Craiova, where he became the “star of Craiova” and Kraus for F.C. Arges. Our generation was divided wherever it could after we left the life of football. Some continued their education, others sports, as coaches.
R.J.: Was it hard to win the Championship of 1966-67?S.N.: We were at a difference of two points from Dinamo. We left Bucharest with emotions. Once in Ploiesti we realized we couldn’t return home without the trophy. And this was it.
The atmosphere from those days will stick to our minds forever. I was a reserve. When the match ended I couldn’t manage to reach my colleagues to embrace them. Once with the last whistle of the referee, the stadium was literally invaded by fans. I’m not sure, but I learnt that they had come on foot from Ploiesti. Besides us, in the tribunes, was also Mrs. Ioana Radu. It was for the first time when Rapid won the Championship. Unfortunately, the year that followed we started a weaker period. Although we had reached the final of the Cup we failed to win it. The guilty one was I, as I kicked the crossbar at a penalty granted in the last minute of the game, when it was 1-1. We reached extensions and Dinamo set Mircea Lucescu in the game, who scored two goals easily.
R.J.: Are you still holding yourself liable for the failure of that game?
M.L.: It was the last minute. As I was young and the emotions high, I executed the penalty badly. In fact, not badly as I hit the crossbar. I didn’t hit it over the gate and the goal;-keeper did not catch it. This was at that time my bad luck. Many thought that I would never recover from that shock. I managed to get through that moment and I was even selected in 1969 for the national team. We also had “battles” with Dinamo, UTA and in 1973 we retrograded.
R.J.: How did fans react in those times at matches with Dinamo and Steaua?
S.N.: Anyway not like today. In those times the galleries sat together at matches. They were not separated and they were not guarded by police. Each could come with his wife or his family at a match. There were snack bars where you could buy sausages and beer. It was not like nowadays. There is a great difference. Now they only know how to fight and curse each other.
R.J.: The second generation of champions was born. What does this mean for you?
S.N.: It means enormously. For me Rapid is a family. In 1966 I returned to the club and I don’t know if I have been absent at more than 3 of games of this great team. I go with them everywhere. Not event he juniors team can get rid of me. It means something to be a fan of Rapid! And last year when they won the Cup of Romania, I was glad, but it cannot be compared to what I felt when they won the Championship. It is fantastic!
R.J.: When you were watching the match with University Craiova did you have in mind the image of the game from the edition 1966-1967?
S.N.: The image of the team from that time, victorious with happy faces cannot leave me.