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* Transylvanian tycoon gives CFR some clout (The Guardian site - 4th December 2007)

In five years Arpad Paszkany has taken his local club from Romania's third division to the top of Liga 1. Now he has designs on Europe

Remember Michael Knighton turning up at Carlisle in 1994 and promising Champions League football within a decade? How everybody laughed. And how vindicated they were when, 10 years later, the Cumbrians ended up being relegated to the Conference. Most Romanians expected something similar when the Transylvanian tycoon Arpad Paszkany took over at his local third-division side CFR Cluj in January 2002.

When he vowed he would have them in Liga 1 within four years, there were cynical smirks and shakes of the head. This, after all, is a side that lived in the shadow of Universitatea Cluj, who were no giants themselves. Despite a history stretching back to 1907, CFR had managed only one spell in the top flight, between 1969 and 1976. Yet six years on, they are not merely in Liga 1, but go into the winter break unbeaten and 11 points clear at the top of the table. This Icarus is soaring.

Not that anybody in Cluj is counting any chickens. Rapid Bucharest, in second, have a game in hand, and were they to win that, they would trail by eight points, precisely the lead CFR squandered to concede the second Champions League qualifying spot to Steaua Bucharest last season. That slip-up might have discouraged other owners, but not Paszkany, who embarked on a summer of spending. The trend elsewhere in Romania is to produce your own talent, but Paszknay has had no qualms about packing his squad with foreigners.

He signed 13 players in the summer, of which only two, Eugen Trica and Radu Marginean, are Romanian. The most expensive was the Argentinian forward Cristian Fabbiani, bought from Lanus for £1.5m. Nicknamed The Ogre for his brooding physical presence, he is likely to play for Romania at Euro 2008 if his citizenship can be processed in time.

"Before I agreed to come here, all my friends tried to stop me," he said, "but I was curious, and now I'm really happy. The title is already ours, in my opinion, and even if other people aren't convinced, we have to start preparing in the spring to try to make a big impact in the Champions League. I'm very encouraged by our performance and I would advise any foreigner who is given the chance to play in Romania not to hesitate."

His compatriot Emmanuel Culio, a midfielder signed from Colo Colo, the Swedish defender Niklas Sandberg and the Brazilian forward Didi have all impressed, but CFR's most popular player remains the Portuguese winger Semedo, who is known as Eddie Murphy because of his supposed resemblance to the American comedian.

There will be more signings this winter. Mikael Dorsin, the Sweden left-back, has already agreed terms, and he likely to be joined by his Rosenborg team-mate, the Ivorian striker Yssouf Kone. Paszkany has already said that if his side wins the title this season, he will invest £60m in the squad next summer for a proper assault on the Champions League. Romania's coefficient has risen sufficiently that, for the first time, their champions will be guaranteed a place in the group stages.

"I'm ready to give a quarter of my fortune to build the strongest team Romanian football has ever known," Paszkany said. "We already have impressive Romanian players like Trica in reserve, but this winter and next summer I will look to bring in top-class foreigners. There are also some big names in the Romanian league who are interested in our project, so we'll see about them."

There are those, naturally, who accuse CFR of having bought success simply by having a far larger transfer budget than any of their rivals, but there are also more damaging claims. Match-fixing has seemingly been in abeyance in Romania since 2002, when the president of the Romanian Football Federation Mircea Sandu called the club presidents together, encouraged them to confess previous crimes and declared "Zero Hour", but there are widespread allegations that Cluj have been offering inducements to match officials. "It's obvious," said the Politehnica Timisoara owner Marian Iancu. "In the future my side won't play against them unless we can have a foreign referee."

Is it only coincidence, their critics ask, that the one time CFR had to play without Romanian referees, against Anorthosis Famagusta in the Uefa Cup, they were beaten 3-1 at home and went out after a draw in Cyprus? Gigi Becali, Steaua's controversial owner, was goaded into another of his regular outbursts by a penalty CFR were awarded away to Gloria Bistrita when they trailed 2-1. "You saw Cristiana Balaj [the referee] present them with a gift," he raged. "Maybe Fabbiani fell over the wind, because there was no opponent anywhere near him. And that's the fourth or fifth time referees have helped CFR."

Such accusations may, as CFR claim, be born out of jealousy, and they are, anyway, almost impossible to prove. Nonetheless, sympathy in Romania tends to have swung towards Unirea Urziceni, who are coached by the former Chelsea and Steaua defender Dan Petrescu. Urziceni is a rural market town of just 17,000 inhabitants - its name derives from the Romanain for 'nettle' - and Unirea were only promoted to the top flight for the first time in 2006, but they are one of four teams level on points in second.

Theirs may be the true fairy-story, but it is what is happening in the north-west that should make Europe take notice. It may not be palatable, but the truth is that it is only with such substantial investment that eastern clubs will be able to rise to compete with the west. "I've never worked with such great financial potential," said CFR's coach Ioan Andone.

Nor has anyone else in Romania, and there may not be another club in Europe spending £60m next summer. If only Michael Knighton had had those sort of resources.

 

* Cluj inflict capital punishment (from UEFA site - 9th November 2007)

With CFR 1907 Cluj ten points clear of the nearest team from the capital at the top of the table, the Romanian title could be leaving Bucharest for the first time since 1991.

European places
It is 16 years since FC Universitatea Craiova last took the title away from Bucharest, but with Cluj now sailing clear, FC Politehnica Stiinta Timisoara and AFC Unirea Valahorum Urziceni are directly behind them after 14 games, it could yet be that neither of Romania's two UEFA Champions League places for 2008/09 could go to the traditional giants.

Still unbeaten
Cluj, coached by Ioan Andone, boast the largest number of foreign players in the 18-team league - 19 - and are yet to lose this season, winning eleven games and drawing the other three. Tellingly, those draws all came at home against Politehnica, FC Steaua Bucuresti and FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti - the three sides who were billed as the main contenders for the crown.

Perfect run
Since the end of September, Andone's side have not put a foot wrong, winning all three of their games against Unirea Valahorum, FC Rapid Bucuresti and SC Vaslui - all sides in contention for a UEFA Cup place. Results like those prove they are truly the pre-eminent force in Romania at the moment - not bad for a side who were playing in the third division in 2002.

Steaua slipping
With five more rounds to go until the winter break, a lot can happen, but certainly the big Bucharest sides will be eager to restore some pride before Christmas. Dinamo, ten points behind Cluj in fourth, have drawn their last three games while Steaua are seventh following a 2-0 defeat by Politehnica – though they have the comfort of two games in hand on the leaders.

Natural order
The spring campaign may yet see the natural order restored, but for the time being, fans in Romania can take pride in the leading trio who have proved that they are worthy of their places at the top of the division. Both Politehnica and rank outsiders Unirea Valahorum have proved themselves with good results against the best sides and may yet be worthy representatives in Europe in 2008/09.