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Romanian still struggling to pay ridiculous £14.6m fine

Adrian Mutu was sacked by Chelsea in 2004 on account of his cocaine abuse, and was given a seven month ban and a £20,000 fine by the FA. When he signed for Juventus (via Livorno) as a free agent during this mandatory exile period, the Blues demanded £9.6m from the player to compensate for the initial transfer fee.

Mutu soon regretted hiring a lawyer he saw running down the street after an ambulance, as the fine was increased to £14.6m after two appeals to the very same Court of Arbitration for Sport who recently banned Chelsea from transfer activity.

Some might say that the transfer ban helped to restore karmic balance following Chelsea’s lack of compassion towards the Romanian, but the point remains that £14.6m is a penalty that only a handful of footballers could realistically afford to pay. In his latest bid to avoid the angry Russian debt collectors, Mutu has written an open letter to FIFA and his former employers. Sky Sport Italia printed the highlights, which Goal.com roughly translated:

“To Chelsea, the FIFA disciplinary committee and FIFA president Josep Blatter

“I write this letter

Some brilliant skill from the Grand Prix de Futsal

Falcão (not to be confused with this chap) may have retired from the grass version of the game, but he’s still rockin’ the world of Futsal.

At the recent Grand Prix de Futsal (a huge annual international indoor football tournament), Brazil spanked Romania 12-0, in part thanks to this incredible effort. Marca are hailing it as the greatest indoor football goal ever, and we’re inclined to agree.

The goal is made even more incredible by the fact that Falcão is 55-years-old. Most 25-year-olds don’t look that good.

UPDATE: Ollie@Pies has kindly highlighted our rushed research by pointing out that this is the 32-year-old Futsal legend Falcão, and not former Roma star Falcão. Two people with the same name? What a crazy country.

Gica Popescu accused of helping brutal Commie regime

Gica Popescu is a bit of a legend in his native Romania. The former defender was never outside the top 4 in the Romanian Footballer of the Year awards for 13 years from 1989 until 2001, thanks in part to the European Cup Winners’ Cup medal he earned in 1997 as captain of Barcelona, and also a season in the Premiership with Tottenham.

Popescu is currently campaigning to become head of the Romanian Soccer Federation, but his bid has been hampered by allegations that he supplied to the Securitate (Romania’s rather nasty communist secret service) with information from 1986 until the regime was toppled in 1989. The Canadian Press (huh?) reports:

The 41-year-old Popescu said he once signed a document promising to “defend the national interests” during the regime of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

“I signed a very general thing. My conscience isn’t clear, it’s very clear,” he said at a news conference. “I didn’t inform on anyone.”

In the late eighties, the Securitate kept tabs on all Romania’s athletes, and those competing in international tournaments were allegedly made to share the details of their conversations with foreigners.

Although the regime employed half a million informants out of a population of just 22 million, Popescu has dismissed the claims as a “big lie” designed to derail his current ambitions within Romanian football’s governing body.

The lady who helped Carlo Ancelotti become a single man

New Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti shares an affinity with Sven-Goran Eriksson: not only did he decide to leave Roma when the Swede was sacked in 1987, but he shares a very similar outlook on marital affairs.

Ancelotti 25-year marriage to wife Luisa came to an end in August, when it was revealed he had been enjoying a four-year affair with Romanian PR girl Marina Cretu, a lady who happens to be 18 years his junior. The ex-Milan boss, however, should be coming to West London with little baggage, as the home-wrecking beauty has also dumped him.

Say hello to Mrs Adrian Mutu #2

Romania has made some fine contributions to the WAG canon: Playboy model Gina Pistol, TV presenter Andreea Raicu and Adrian Mutu’s ex-wife Alexandra Dinu to name but a few.

Since Mutu separated from the aforementioned mother of his child, he has transformed another beauty into a footballer’s wife - model Consuelo Matos Gomez. Although of Dominican descent, Consuelo was recently voted Romania’s number one WAG.

The hottest Romanian TV presenter since, er, this one

In 2001, hunky* Romanian striker and former recreational drug enthusiast Adrian Mutu married Romanian TV presenter, actress and model Alexandra Dinu. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as the pair split up two years later, with Alexandra being rewarded custody of their son Mario.

*Yeah that’s right, we said ‘hunky’. The Spoiler appreciates hot regardless of sex.

Say hello to Romania’s hottest TV presenter

Whereas certain footballers will happily fornicate with any lady who pays them attention in Movida, others have very specific types. Cristian Chivu, for example, only likes brunette Romanian television presenters. Before settling down with Adelina Elisei, the Inter Milan enjoyed the company of Andreea Raicu.