Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname Armeanul (The Armenian).[1][2] With 878 games, he is the manager who has the most matches in the Romanian top-division.[2][3][4]
Playing career
Florin Halagian was born on 7 March 1939 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1950 at local club, Dinamo where he was formed and taught by coaches like Colea Vâlcov, Petre Steinbach and Ion Nedelescu.[1][5] In 1957 he starts his senior career at Divizia B club, Progresul CPCS București for whom he scored four goals.[5] After one year he left the club to go at Pompierul București.[1][5]
In 1959 he switched teams again as he went at Dinamo Pitești with whom in 1961 he promoted to Divizia A, a competition in which he made his debut and scored his first goal on 20 August in a 4–3 loss in front of eventual champions, Dinamo București.[1][5][6] Halagian made 23 appearances in his first top-league season but the team relegated at the end of it, also during this time he was teammate with a young Nicolae Dobrin.[1][5][7] The team from Pitești managed to promote back to the first league after only one season but in the middle of it he left them to go and play for Dinamo București.[1][5] He made no league appearances for The Red Dogs, playing only half an hour in the Cupa României.[5]
In 1964 he signed with Petrolul Ploiești where he scored once in seven matches.[1][5] For the 1964–65 season he went to play at Minerul Baia Mare, scoring twice in 22 games, the team relegating at the end of it.[1][5] In 1965, Halagian came back to Dinamo Pitești but left the club shortly as he played a single game to go at Divizia B club, Politehnica București.[1][5] In 1969 he arrived at Vagonul Arad where on 30 March he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 2–1 home loss in front of Universitatea Cluj, having a total of 58 matches with eight goals scored in the competition, also Vagonul relegated at the end of the season.[1][5]
Managerial career
In 1970, Florin Halagian starting coaching juniors at Argeș Pitești.[1][6][7] After a 4–1 away loss in front of FCM Bacău in the first round of the 1971–72 season, coach Titus Ozon leaves the club, Halagian being named the team's new head coach.[5][7] His first game managed took place on 21 August 1971, ending with a 2–1 home win over Rapid București, courtesy of a brace scored by Radu Jercan.[8][9] Over the course of the season, Argeș won both games against defending champions, Dinamo București, finishing it on the first place, thus Halagian, aged 33 becoming one of the youngest coaches who ever won the title.[1][2][5][6] Afterwards, the club participated in the 1972–73 European Cup, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid led by coach Miguel Muñoz but lost the second leg with 3–1.[5][10][11] In the same season, the team finished the championship on the third place, Halagian leaving afterwards.[5]
After the first eight rounds of the 1973–74 season, Minerul Baia Mare was on the 13th place, Halagian taking over the team and finishing the season on the fifth place.[5][12]
He then returned to Argeș where after three mediocre seasons he finished the 1977–78 season on the second place at equal points with Steaua București who had a better goal difference.[1][5][13] Thus the team qualified to the 1978–79 UEFA Cup where in the first round they passed Panathinaikos with a 5–1 aggregate victory.[13] In the second round they won with 2–1 the first leg with Valencia which was led on the field by recently World Cup winner Mario Kempes who was also the top-goalscorer and best player of the tournament, however they lost the second leg with 5–2, thus the campaign ending.[11][14] In the same season he helped the club win the second title in its history which was mathematically won after a spectacular 4–3 away victory in the last round over Dinamo București.[1][2][5][6][8][13][15] Next season, Argeș participated in the 1979–80 European Cup where after passing AEK Athens in the first round, they got eliminated by Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest who were the title holders and eventual winners of the competition.[13][16] Halagian had a special relationship and respect with player Nicolae Dobrin about whom he said:"The player I loved and to whom I hold a special esteem is Gicu Dobrin. Thanks to him I became a respected coach, thanks to him I and FC Argeș were champions. He was a phenomenal player."[3]
In the spring of 1985, Halagian takes over Universitatea Craiova with whom he finishes the season on the fourth place and reaches the 1985 Cupa României final which was lost with 2–1 in front of his former team, Steaua.[13][23] Shortly afterwards he made a comeback at Argeș Pitești where he reached but lost the 1984–85 Balkans Cup final with Iraklis.[13][24] Also from 1987 until 1988 he worked again in parallel for the Romanian Football Federation who firstly appointed him head coach at Romania's under-21 national team, then at the Olympic side which he led in two losses with Poland and Denmark at the unsuccessful 1988 Summer Olympics qualifiers.[1][25]
Halagian left Pitești after three years to coach Victoria București with whom he finished the 1988–89 season on the third place, also eliminating Sliema Wanderers, Dinamo Minsk and Turun Palloseura in the 1988–89 UEFA Cup edition, the campaign ending in the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Dynamo Dresden.[13][21][26] In the first round from the following season of the same competition, Victoria met Halagian's old acquaintance, Valencia, earning a 1–1 in the first leg but losing the second one with 3–1.[26] After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Victoria was dissolved by the Romanian Football Federation as it was considered that they were unfairly advantaged by the communist regime in the past years, so he worked again for Romania's under-21 side for a while.[1][13][26]
In 1991 he went to work at Dinamo București, having Rinus Israel alongside him as technical director, in his first season managing to win the league title undefeated, also eliminating in the first round of the UEFA Cup with 2–1 on aggregate Sporting Lisbon who was led on the field by Luis Figo, losing in the following one with 5–3 on aggregate in front of Genoa.[2][7][8][13][19][27] He then led The Red Dogs in the 1992–93 Champions League, passing Kuusysi Lahti in the first round, meeting Olympique Marseille in the second against whom he earned a 0–0 in the first leg but lost the second game with 2–0, the French eventually going on to win the competition.[28] He left Dinamo in October 1992, being replaced with Alexandru Moldovan but came back to the club in May 1993, finishing the season on the second place and the next one on the third.[13][29]
He came back to coaching in September 2009 when he signed with Gloria Bistrița, leading the club for 11 rounds until the end of the first half of the 2009–10 season.[12][13][32] In 2010 he worked for a while at Dacia Mioveni in the second league.[33] In April 2011, Halagian had the last coaching spell of his career, returning at Gloria Bistrița, but was sacked three weeks later because of issues regarding players shaving before matches.[12][13][34]
He is the manager who has the most matches in the Romanian first league with 878 games consisting of 432 victories, 176 draws and 270 losses, having 33 seasons of activity in the competition, also he gained a total of 44 matches in European competitions.[1][2][3][4][35]
On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu for all of his achievements as a football coach, and for forming a young generation of future champions with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class III.[10][21][36]
Managing style
It was said about him that he was a strict and severe manager, having expectations for the footballers such as shaving before the matches but his reply in an interview was:"I don't think I was a rough coach because I loved all my players, no matter how good they were. I had discussions throughout my career with my players because I cared a lot about their dress and behavior outside the field of play. I would explain to them why the way they present themselves in front of people is extremely important, not only for them, but even for the club and the city. It really bothered me if their extra-sports life was unbalanced. I cared for many as if they were my children."[37][38]
One of Halagian's famous quotes as coach was: Focu' la ei! (The fire at them!), explaining:"This is an expression that I invented to convey to the players on the pitch that the ball is good to be on the opponent half of the pitch, even if we have possession or not, I told them it is better to play there."[7][10][37]
He also had superstitions, many years wearing a Chicago Bulls hat during the games because he believed it would bring him luck:"Even now I have a bunch of caps in my hanger. It was a weakness of mine. My wife put the Chicago Bulls one for safe keeping because she said memories should be kept. I think I would still wear it now if I had it handy and it would probably deteriorate. People cling to all sorts of things that they think might help them. I am Armenian, but I borrowed Romanian customs, because I was born here. At that time I was really convinced that the hat brought me good luck."[10][37]
Death
Florin Halagian died on 12 August 2019 at age 80.[1][3]
^ abcde"Florin Halagian "Focu' la ei!"" [Florin Halagian "The fire at them!"] (in Romanian). Revistaflacara.ro. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
