Ivan Testemitanu

[Tinmans Love Child]

Just spotted this nice little interview with arguably the best named City player ever from Jan 2024 on the former players association you tube, so thought I'd share.  Ps what a goal by the way see 2:24
 

 

Edited February 20 by Tinmans Love Child

[GrahamC]

Real shame that injuries badly hampered his time with us.

He was a real scrapper & certainly had no problem with the physical side of the British game.

Always remember that goal at Chesterfield, (I was there) which was completely out of keeping with what was a truly terrible game of football.

[Redrascal2]

Great player for us. Great tackler.If my memory serves me right he got badly injured at West Brom along with Micky Bell. Two hammer blows for us. And the Ref played loads of added time until Lee Hughes got the equaliser. An awful day in our battle to avoid relegation.

[tin]

I loved Ivan, a proper blood-and-thunder central midfielder. Pretty sure his signing-on bonus was a piano for his wife, who was a pro pianist or something like that. 

I still recall being at the Hawthorns when he did his ACL. We were playing really well that day, deserved to win 2-1 and Lee Hughes scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time. They went up, we went down.

[Tinmans Love Child]

The Ivan rabbit hole has unearthed this article, he played for Moldova v England when Beckham made his debut and Ivan missed a pen!

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/bristol-fashion-stunned-ivan-the-trailblazer-8113850.html

[Stockwood gate]

My friend who has sadly passed away used to shout out when Ivan came over to take a corner “ Ivan quality like your wife’s piano playing quality “ he looked up and never had a clue what he was on about and we giggle 

[Cole Not Gas]

42 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Real shame that injuries badly hampered his time with us.

He was a real scrapper & certainly had no problem with the physical side of the British game.

Always remember that goal at Chesterfield, (I was there) which was completely out of keeping with what was a truly terrible game of football.

Perfect summary. That horrible night, the driving rain but what a thunderbolt. Sat on the halfway line and of our best goals i saw that season - has it ever been captured on video? About 30 games for us but no idea where he ended up. And yes, great name too.

[W-S-M Seagull]

I loved him. Just a huge shame his injuries spoiled his time here. 

 

[Tony Tootle]

33 minutes ago, tin said:

Pretty sure his signing-on bonus was a piano for his wife, who was a pro pianist or something like that.

Close but that was for Vilmos Seboks wife - Actually I was getting confused and I am wrong, it was Ivan 

Edited February 20 by Tony Tootle

[handsofclay]

14 minutes ago, Tony Tootle said:

Close but that was for Vilmos Seboks wife.

No I am sure it was Testemitanu's. 

[Oh Louie louie]

Pretty sure Scott Davidson got the piano through his music connections or possibly off Carl Hutchings back

[richwwtk]

32 minutes ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Perfect summary. That horrible night, the driving rain but what a thunderbolt. Sat on the halfway line and of our best goals i saw that season - has it ever been captured on video? About 30 games for us but no idea where he ended up. And yes, great name too.

As per the OP, it's on that video at 2:24

[phantom]

When Ion Testemitanu played for the then young nation of Moldova against England in Chisinau in 1996, he could have had no idea it would lead to a move to Bristol City, an incident in which all his clothes were stolen by his team-mates and his life being dramatised in a British film.

Now retired and the current assistant to Moldova coach Ion Caras, Testemitanu, also known as Ivan, has the distinction of being the only Moldovan to have played football in England. He was signed by Bristol City having been scouted by Tony Fawthrop in the World Cup qualifier against England – famously David Beckham's debut and less well-known for the fact that Testemitanu missed a penalty.

A versatile midfielder in his time, Testemitanu, 38, has seen Moldova's development from a football nation who played their first game independent from the Soviet Union in 1991 to a country that, despite their lowly Fifa ranking of 141, have tried to develop their players. "Against England they will want to show these players what they can do," he said yesterday. "Maybe after the game your players will know them. They will remember the names."

Testemitanu was playing for Zimbru Chisinau when he faced England 16 years ago and came to Bristol City's attention. Having come for a trial, but not offered a contract, a goal in a 2-2 draw with Northern Ireland in 1998 persuaded City to sign him. On his first day at the club, his City team-mates were so incredulous at his Eastern Bloc clothes that they took them while he trained and told him they had sold them. He had literally nothing to wear.

"When I came first time to Bristol, they laughed at how I was dressed. They said I looked like a sailor. They thought I come from the past. They had Hugo Boss, Armani, Dolce and Gabbana. It was a very hard time."

It was a story Testemitanu played for laughs but there was a sadness about him too – "you're smiling but, for me, it was a very hard time". It was certainly a depressing reminder of the occasional brainlessness peculiar to the dressing rooms of English football clubs. Fortunately Fawthrop took pity on him, gave him a tracksuit to wear and took him clothes shopping with money advanced from his salary. For all that, Testemitanu has very fond memories of his time in England where, among others, he became friends with Tony Pulis who was appointed manager at Bristol City during that time. Testemitanu did part of his Uefa B licence at Stoke City.

"Tony helped me learn how to be a good coach," he said. Would Moldova be playing in a similar fashion to Stoke? "I think we are a little bit better. No long throws. We play by feet and not with hands."

Testemitanu was also one of the players who features in the book Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, now also a film, written by British comedian Tony Hawks. It chronicles the genuine story of Hawks' attempts to track down every one of the Moldovan players from the 1996 match and challenge them to a game of tennis, a story that began with a bet he made with a friend.

"Tony is a funny man," Testemitanu said. "The book was an accurate picture of life in Moldova at the time, in the mid-1990s. The film [released this year] is not how it is in Moldova now. He is showing history. We have become much better. Our life is a lot better than before."

As for the current Moldova team, they have many players who play in the Russian premier league, including captain Alexandru Epureanu and his fellow centre-half Igor Armas, the latter of whom said yesterday his team "were not playing England for the autographs". They are believed to be on €3,000 each for a win, €1,000 for a draw from their football federation but, as Testemitanu said, money is not their key motivation tonight.

TAKEN FROM:  Bristol fashion stunned Ivan the trailblazer | The Independent | The Independent

[italian dave]

The book that’s mentioned in that article - Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - is a good read too. Very funny, 

[Oh Louie louie]

Two Tony's, mentioned one a comedian, the other the biggest clown ever

[italian dave]

4 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Two Tony's, mentioned one a comedian, the other the biggest clown ever

Three!

Tony Fawthrop too (if my assumptions about your descriptions of the other two are correct!!!)

[Oh Louie louie]

One tony who was very popular with the player's in ivans era I don't think he met, the barber on Raleigh road

[RedHienz]

One of my favorite players. 

'That' goal was sublime and complimented his total commitment while on the field.

Seems a nice guy which is always a bonus! 

[2015]

1 hour ago, phantom said:

"When I came first time to Bristol, they laughed at how I was dressed. They said I looked like a sailor. They thought I come from the past. They had Hugo Boss, Armani, Dolce and Gabbana. It was a very hard time."

It was a story Testemitanu played for laughs but there was a sadness about him too – "you're smiling but, for me, it was a very hard time". It was certainly a depressing reminder of the occasional brainlessness peculiar to the dressing rooms of English football clubs. Fortunately Fawthrop took pity on him, gave him a tracksuit to wear and took him clothes shopping with money advanced from his salary. For all that, Testemitanu has very fond memories of his time in England where, among others, he became friends with Tony Pulis who was appointed manager at Bristol City during that time. Testemitanu did part of his Uefa B licence at Stoke City.

No wonder that side finished bottom of the Championship with attitudes like that, but it isn't at all surprising.

[Elruliri]

What a lovely bloke we could do with his calibre of player now.

[spudski]

2 hours ago, italian dave said:

The book that’s mentioned in that article - Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - is a good read too. Very funny, 

Indeed it is Dave.

I loved watching Ivan. Whole hearted player. 

I was at the Brom game when he got injured. I was gutted for him.

I love seeing these former player episodes. 

[kiwicolin]

Part of the transfer deal was that a piano was included, for his wife.

Good player for us. 

[Woofyourkipper]

The Orphan,thats what our group nicknamed him in A block dolman.

he used to stand in front of the ref and plead with him with hands cupped together like the orphan in the film oliver twist

 

[Lanterne Rouge]

6 hours ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Perfect summary. That horrible night, the driving rain but what a thunderbolt. Sat on the halfway line and of our best goals i saw that season - has it ever been captured on video? About 30 games for us but no idea where he ended up. And yes, great name too.

It was torrential wasn`t it? IIRC it was raining so hard they moved us off the terrace into the stand out of sympathy!

Which meant we had the perfect view of Ion`s thunderbastard!

[joe jordans teeth]

Was he called a legend at the start and did he call us Bristol,the angry brigade will have a field day with that 

Edited February 21 by joe jordans teeth

[joe jordans teeth]

9 hours ago, Elruliri said:

What a lovely bloke we could do with his calibre of player now.

Cmon now,I loved his attitude but he wouldn’t even get in our team now 

[Olé]

Was my favourite player at the time, and not cheap for his name on the back of a shirt! I ran an all day training session in Chisnau in 2018 or 2019 and took said shirt with me and told them the story. 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

I'm still in touch with Ivan via my Mrs who was friendly with his wife.

Ivan asked me to go with him and a friend to the Millwall game on NYD but I was off to Cornwall ( and really pleased I didn't). He watched from the Lansdown stand as a normal punter although he's mates with Scotty.

He ended up as Director of Moldovan football but got the heave- ho although there was massive corruption in who got the jobs. He worked with his brother for a while as a builder in London. He comes to Bristol quite regularly and remains a really big fan of the club.

I remember him telling me some 9-10 years ago that BCFC really needed to have more home grown players because they'll always give that extra beyond talent alone. Which is why I don't get some of the Sam Bell stuff on here!

[Olé]

6 hours ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

although there was massive corruption in who got the jobs

It’s improving but Moldova suffers from a fair amount of day to day corruption, often from Russian backed officials, gangsters and police, despite having a pro-EU government and people. Bit of a shame as the people are lovely and Chisinău is nicer (greener, cleaner and less chaotic) than Bucharest.

Great story about Ion (or Ivan). You’ve already got me searching for builders in London called Testimitanu.

Edited February 22 by Olé

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

3 hours ago, Olé said:

It’s improving but Moldova suffers from a fair amount of day to day corruption, often from Russian backed officials, gangsters and police, despite having a pro-EU government and people. Bit of a shame as the people are lovely and Chisinău is nicer (greener, cleaner and less chaotic) than Bucharest.

Great story about Ion (or Ivan). You’ve already got me searching for builders in London called Testimitanu.

I'm not sure it ended well! I've just sent a message  as someone has asked to get a shirt signed next time Ivan is visiting. I'll update when I hear back.