Florea Ispir

Florea Ispir

Personal information
Date of birth	(1949-11-25) 25 November 1949 (age 75)
Place of birth	Vârteju, Romania
Position(s)	Centre back
Youth career
1963–1969	Steaua București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1969	TUG București	15	(0)
1970–1988	ASA Târgu Mureș[a]	512	(2)
Total		527	(2)
International career
	Romania U18
	Romania B	3	(0)
Managerial career
1992–1995	ASA Târgu Mureș
1995–1996	Gaz Metan Mediaș
1997–1998	Apulum Alba Iulia
1999–2000	Chimica Târnăveni
2000–2001	Gaz Metan Târgu Mureș
2001	ASA Târgu Mureș
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Florea Ispir (born 25 November 1949 in Vârteju, Ilfov County) is a Romanian football player and coach. As a player, his total of 485 appearances in Liga I for ASA Târgu Mureș place him third in the all-time list, behind Ionel Dănciulescu with 515 and Costică Ștefănescu with 490, also those 485 appearances place him first in the Liga I matches played for a single team.^[2][3]

Playing career

Florea Ispir was born on 25 November 1949 in Vârteju, Romania, growing up as a fan of Rapid București, as he was impressed by players Dan Coe and Ion Motroc, at one point he went at a trial to play for them but was not offered a contract.^[1][2][4][5] He played junior level football in the early 1960s at Steaua București where he worked with coach Nicolae Tătaru.^{[1][2][4][6][7][8]} He started his senior career when Steaua sent him to play in the 1969–70 Divizia C season at TUG București.^[1][2][8] Afterwards he had an offer to play for ASA Târgu Mureș, which he accepted as he thought that it would be hard for him to earn a starting position in the central defense of Steaua in front of internationals Dumitru Nicolae and Bujor Hălmăgeanu.^[1][2][4][6] He made his Divizia A debut for ASA on 29 March 1970 under coach Tiberiu Bone in a 2–1 away loss in front of Universitatea Craiova, by the end of the season the team relegating to Divizia B, but Ispir stayed with the club, helping it promote back to the first league after one year.^{[1][2][4][7][8]} Ispir spent the rest of his career at ASA which consisted of a total of 19 seasons, playing alongside players like László Bölöni, Nicolae Nagy, Árpád Fazekas, Iuliu Hajnal or Petre Varodi, making 485 Divizia A appearances with two goals scored, receiving only one red card in his entire career in a match against Rapid.^{[1][2][4][6][7][8]} The highlights of this period were a second place in the 1974–75 Divizia A season, reaching the 1973 Balkans Cup final and playing in all the 6 UEFA Cup matches from the three consecutive seasons the team participated in it.^{[1][2][4][7][8][9]} Around 1975 or 1976 he had offers to play for UTA Arad and CSM Reșița but he refused to go there even if he could have earned more money because he was attached to the town and loved by the fans who called him Shake-Ispir, a nickname inspired from Shakespeare.^[2][5][6] After the team relegated once more in 1986, he helped it promote again after one year, than played four more Divizia A matches, the last one being a 2–1 away loss in front of Dinamo București which took place on 4 October 1987.^[1][2] He had an offer from the team's new coach, Cornel Dinu to play in the final minutes of the games so he can reach 500 Divizia A appearances but Ispir declined it, because he was 38 years old and had a hard time recovering after suffering a nasty injury in a match against Victoria București, also claiming that by playing only in the final minutes of the games he would have made a fool out of himself and tricked football.^{[1][2][4][6][8]} Even do he played for Romania under-18 and Romania B, Florea Ispir never played for Romania's senior team and on 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him on a list of best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.^[7][10]

Managerial career

Florea Ispir started coaching shortly after ending his career when he was an assistant of Cornel Dinu at ASA Târgu Mureș.^[2] From 1992 until 2001 Ispir worked as a head coach at ASA Târgu Mureș, Gaz Metan Mediaș, Apulum Alba Iulia, Chimica Târnăveni and Gaz Metan Târgu Mureș, claiming that he liked coaching but he made the mistake of not adapting to the newer mentality of the players, talking to them as when he was a player.^[2]

Honours

Player

ASA Târgu Mureș

• Divizia A runner-up: 1974–75^[1]
• Divizia B: 1970–71, 1986–87^[1]
• Balkans Cup runner-up: 1973^[8][9]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1986–87 Divizia B season are unavailable.^[1]

References

1. Florea Ispir at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
2. "Povestea senzațională a lui Florea Ispir, jucătorul cu record all-time pentru o singură echipă în Liga 1: de la ore de șah cu Boloni, la sprițuri pe ascuns în cămară, după înfrângeri" [The sensational story of Florea Ispir, the player with an all-time record for a single team in Liga I: from chess lessons with Boloni, to drinking spritz secretly in the pantry, after defeats] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
3. "Record istoric de 24 de ani bătut sâmbătă seara" [Historical record of 24 years beaten Saturday night] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
4. "Florea Ispir, după 485 de apariții în tricoul ASA Târgu Mureș: "Am ieșit pe locul 2, am fost vicecampioni, am fost și pe 3, am participat și în Cupa UEFA"" [Florea Ispir, after 485 appearances in the ASA Târgu Mureș shirt: "We came in 2nd place, we were vice-champions, we were also 3rd, we also participated in the UEFA Cup"] (in Romanian). Sptfm.ro. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
5. "Poveștile lu' Pilu cu Florea Ispir" [Pilu's stories with Florea Ispir] (in Romanian). Cluj.tvr.ro. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
6. "Jucătorul din Liga 1 care deține recordul de meciuri disputate pentru aceeași echipă a povestit pentru Gazetă: "Merg zilnic 60-70 de minute cu bicicleta! Am o bătrâneţe liniştită şi frumoasă"" [The Liga 1 player who holds the record for matches played for the same team told Gazeta: "I ride my bike for 60-70 minutes every day! I have a quiet and beautiful old age"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 6 March 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
7. "O legendă a fotbalului românesc explică: "Ardealu-i fruncea!"" [A Romanian football legend explains: "Transylvania is the leader!"] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
8. "Florea Ispir, o legendă vie a clubului ASA Târgu-Mureş, este tranşant:"Nivelul Ligii I e modest. Jucătorii de azi ar fi prins greu banca pe vremea mea"" [Florea Ispir, a living legend of the ASA Târgu-Mureş club, is blunt: "The level of the Liga I is modest. Today's players would have had a hard time getting the bench in my time"] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
9. "Stadionul în care Loți Boloni a învăţat ABC-ul fotbalului stă să se prăbușească" [The stadium where Loti Boloni learned the ABC of football is about to collapse] (in Romanian). Jurnalul.ro. 26 February 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
10. "Ion Oblemenco ar fi împlinit azi 75 de ani! Legendarul jucător nu a prins niciodată naționala. Care sunt cei mai buni fotbaliști fără vreun minut pentru România" [Ion Oblemenco would have turned 75 today! The legendary player never caught the national team. Who are the best footballers without any minutes for Romania] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2023.

External links

• Florea Ispir at WorldFootball.net