Today, April 25, marks the 36th anniversary of Dinamo - Liverpool, the return of the European Champions Cup semi-final from the 1983-1984 season. Cornel Dinu, who assisted head coach Nicolae Nicușor in '84, makes several shocking revelations about that European campaign of Dinamo Bucharest. He claims, in an exclusive GSP interview, that the successes on the continent of the “red-whites” were well "prepared" in advance.
- Mister, it's been 36 years since Dinamo - Liverpool. What do you remember from that game in which you missed the qualification in the final of the European Champions Cup?
- There are many stories, I wrote some of them in my second book. Are you interested only in the match with Liverpool or do you want to understand the whole context of that campaign?
- It's interesting to hear about anything related to the semi-finals. You were the assistant of Dumitru Nicolae Nicușor.
- Okay, I was following the opponents and working on the tactical part, Nicușor was in charge of the physical training. And that was exactly the problem, that the opponents were much stronger. Postelnicu had sent me for the first time to see Aston Villa, in '81, then I also went to Liverpool to watch their game with Everton. This is how I created a relationship with Anghelache, who was the head of Romanian espionage in England. I had a very good relationship with Postelnicu until about '84 -'85, when Vasile Anghel "worked" me by saying false things about me.
Referee guarded by the KGB
- Could Dinamo have qualified or were the English too good?
- There were several problems. First: we could no longer go to the referees, as we had done in previous European games. It didn't work because there was no room for puppies! It was the semi-finals of the Champions Cup, there was not much room for Dinamo of the East!
- Go with money?
- Yeah, sure! Before Liverpool, we played with Dinamo Minsk. I carried the bags with money to Tbilisi, where the first leg was played, and to Bucharest. In the USSR it was more complicated, because referee Castillo was guarded by the KGB, but I succeeded. In Bucharest, there were times when the Soviets dominated us so badly that the referee came to the sidelines and said to me: "Keep them on their feet for a while, because I can't do more than that!"
- But...
- They couldn't stand up after Nicusor's training. It was towards the end of the match, Augustin had scored a goal with his shoulder. We managed to win 1-0. With Hamburg, too, I carried the bag of money. But everyone did that! Dinamo reached that level on the value of the team, this practice with the suitcases for referees was general, only that the Romanians cared then about the image of the country; it mattered! And the Soviets were known to drink super-energizing, so-called “bear tea”.
Dinu: "I opened the suitcase: there were all kinds of European money"
- And with Hamburg? At 3-0?!
- Yes! Keiser, a school inspector, was the referee at the time. I gave him the money, he gave me presents, a tie and a silver ring.
- What were the amounts paid to the referees in such situations? Approximately, if you don't remember exactly.
- I opened the bag before handing it over to Mr. Keiser. I wanted to see, out of curiosity, about how much money it was. They were all European banknotes: French francs, Swiss francs, German marks. The Security had given me the money as they had managed to collect it; it was not the whole amount in the same kind of money.
- You said that the referees were the first problem in the return match with Liverpool. What was the second?
- The second issue was that the English had their tactical meeting before the match during the walk through the city, not in a room. The Security recorded all the meetings of our opponents, because the security guards of that time were people defending the country. Before Liverpool, only Gothenburg in 1980 had done the same, with the meeting held during a walk. Both the Swedes and the English were afraid of being listened to, which was the case. And the third problem: after a strong sun in the first part of the day, it started to rain before the game.
- Did the weather matter?
- Why not? Who plays better in the rain than the English play? There were also two big mistakes of Alexandru Nicolae, a defender that Postelnicu had brought from Buzău, where he had been first secretary. At Rush's second goal, Nicolae wanted to head the ball at the grass level, but he hit the ground with his head. And we made another mistake. Postelnicu had told us before the first leg in Liverpool to play Augustin forward, "that he is "Bulgarian" and fights with them", and with Dragnea withdrawn in the middle, since Merry is more technical, he can still pass". On the second leg, after Souness had broken Movila's jaw in Liverpool, I suggested to withdraw Augustine to fight with the English and I used Turcu as forward. He had speed, we thought he was going to use the space. He went to hell, he didn't go anywhere!
The suitcase with $25,000
- You said that there were various banknotes in the bag for the referee of the match with Hamburg, difficult to assess exactly, but could you still trying to approximate what the dollar amount was?
- To answer your question, I can refer to another episode. In the following season, '84 -'85, we played with Bordeaux and we were refereed by a Scot, McGinlay. Anghelache had approached him early, before he left Scotland, and the Security had prepared a suitcase with $25,000. A bag that Vasile Anghel took over and did not gave it to the referee. We had about 16 chances, but the Scot "chopped" us. It ended 1-1 in Bucharest and Bordeaux qualified, by equalizing us in extra time. (Source: GSP)
Dinu: "Real Madrid gave gold watches to referees"
After the wave of reactions in the Romanian football, "Mister" detailed the practices of that period. "Many people comment without having read the full interview or have read it and did not understand because they have no idea about the situation in those times. The episodes I recounted were common practices in European cups. When Dinamo played against Real Madrid in the 1960s, the Spaniards gave the referees, in the locker room, a gold watch with the club's emblem. Because everyone did that, the gifts for referees were like a method of defense, to give you a chance in Europe. The details about our match with Bordeaux I found out when I met, after '90, Claude Bez, the former president of the French club. He confirmed to me that our money had not reached the Scottish referee and told me “What was the amount you had prepared? $25,000? Anyway, you wouldn't have had any chance, because we went with 35,000 dollars»", Cornel Dinu told GSP.ro.
Jan Keizer, 79, the Dutch referee accused by Cornel Dinu of giving him a suitcase full of money in October 1983, before the famous Dinamo - Hamburg match, is currently at home. He lives near Volendam, a town 20 kilometers away from Amsterdam. Keizer was contacted by the newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor: “He answered the phone and, when he found out that I was a Romanian journalist, he asked me "Why are you looking for me?" I told him what Dinu said about the suitcase and, after listening to me, he had only one reaction. He started laughing. In a roar. Then he hung up. A few minutes later, I tried again. His wife answered the phone, but she hung up as she heard my English. Later, the Dutch journalists called him as well, but nobody answered the phone.” (Source: GSP)
