The volatile Wolves star who told Glenn Hoddle he had 'no idea' and got banned for attacking official

We take a look back at the Wolves career and beyond of former cult hero, Vio Ganea. The fans loved him, he was a fiery individual, but it didn't work out for him at Molineux

When

In 2004, Dave Jones signed Vio Ganea on a free transfer from Bursaspor where he had scored six goals in 15 appearances.

Who

Ganea, when he signed for Wolves, was a 30-year-old Romanian international with a good goal record and a respected CV. He had previously scored 37 goals in 104 appearances.

Before then he had played in various Romanian league sides and with a very healthy goal return of 54 goals in 138 appearances for sides like Rapid Bucharest.

To many on these shores he would have been a relatively unknown proposition, some may remember him as the man who knocked Kevin Keegan’s England out of Euro 2000.

He was the man who scored a last-minute match-winning penalty in the group stages to send England packing.

Time at Wolves

Ganea joined a Wolves side struggling to stay in the Premier League. Despite scoring three goals he could do nothing more to prevent them slipping back into the Championship. Ganea became somewhat of a hit with the fans, many of whom saw his obvious sharpness on the ball and eye for goal.

Chants of “Vio, Vio, Vio” became a regular occurrence at Molineux especially when one of the many strikers was not doing the business in front of goal and the fans wanted him on the pitch.

Competition was fierce for Ganea in the shape of Dean Sturridge, Kenny Miller, Carl Cort and Nathan Blake.

It was in preparation for the next season where things really went awry for Ganea, he seriously injured his cruciate knee ligaments on pre-season tour in Norway.

It proved to be an injury that kept him out of the squad for the whole season.

When he returned to the squad the following season, 2005-2006, much had changed.

Which leads us to the controversial clashes with then manager Glenn Hoddle...

The Hoddle era

What should have been a joyous return from injury for Ganea, suddenly became somewhat of a tainted outing.

The Romania striker made his first League start for 18 months and marked his inclusion with a second-half goal that salvaged a point at home to Preston.

He was booked for celebrating his equaliser with supporters and then sent off in the 69th minute for a second-yellow card - meted out for a late challenge on midfielder Paul KcKenna.

Officially, Glenn Hoddle refused to comment on any internal punishment the popular player would face on top of an automatic one-match suspension.

'It's between me and him,' he said. Then the manager immediately added: 'I don't think he will be getting many rounds in.'

Hoddle had some sympathy with the player over his second card but was angry that the dismissal had stopped Wolves pushing on in search of a much-needed victory.

'I am disappointed he's dived into the crowd like that,' he said. 'That action would be on the back of the frustration he has felt at being out for so long. He knows the rules because he has done it before and the poor lad is now going to be suspended.'

"In my opinion their lad has bottled it and jumped over the top - he's probably seen the two of our lads coming in and done the sensible thing and dived out of the way.

"That has made it look worse than it was.

"I don't think Vio has actually caught him, he's caught Rob if anything, but maybe it's been seen as a reckless challenge.

"But it's a mixed bag for Vio because I'm disappointed he dived into the crowd after scoring.

"I know it's frustration at being out for so long but the referee doesn't know that and it was a deserved booking.”

Ganea had plenty to say on the incident himself, stating: "I'd always promised to the supporters that I would get back and score a goal for them so I just wanted to celebrate together," he said of his first booking.

"But I certainly don't think the second one was a yellow card.

"I don't think I touched him, my intention was to play the ball and not to kick him.

"I think it was a normal tackle, not high or bad, and I just think it was three players in a tackle with the ball being won."

The fine from the club seemed to be the start of the decline for Ganea’s time in Wolverhampton.

Talks of training ground bust-ups and disagreements with Ganea and the manager quickly became evident.

In the days of 2005, players quite often had their say more than they do today in the clinical media trained world of the professional footballer.

How about this for a set of quotes from Ganea and Hoddle...

"He's the most difficult coach I've worked with in my entire career," said Ganea. "I don't know if I can name two or three players who are satisfied with Hoddle.

"He runs an exhausting and demanding training programme and whenever we are under pressure he is the only one making it worse by pressuring us even more.

"He has no idea how to win over his players.

"And I just cannot forget that Tomasz Frankowski was transferred for £1.4million and has not scored, while I have scored five in 12 starts."

Hoddle insisted that this first public sign of any private dressing room split at Molineux was just sour grapes on Ganea's part - following a club fine given to the Romanian international for a previously unreported training ground incident.

"Let me just say one thing," said Hoddle. "Maybe his attitude might have changed in the sense that he was fined a week's wages by me for fighting on the training ground three weeks ago.

"Perhaps he just hasn't had a manager before who has the right discipline.

"It happens all round the country and the other player was fined too.

"But there's one for starters. There might be a story behind the story as to why he came out and said what he said.

"It was unacceptable for me as a manager. But he can take it in two ways. He can take it on the chin or he can respond as he has responded."

Ganea has made it clear that he would not work under Hoddle again and that he wanted out.

"If the present manager leaves and I get to sign an advantageous deal, then I may stay at Wolves," he said.

"I've had offers from Cardiff and Coventry and I would like to work with Dave Jones again. But Cardiff have only offered me a one-year contract, while Coventry have offered two years."

It proved to be Ganea’s last season with Wolves and one that saw him score 4 goals in 11 appearances.

Hoddle left shortly after...

Further controversy

Ganea’s career was not without incident. He was well-known for his passion and fiery temperament, and just like the Hoddle incident, it frequently got him in trouble.

During an international match against Scotland in 2004, he tackled Celtic defender John Kennedy in a clash that left the Scot unable to play for three years, his career never recovered and it forced him to retire early.

In 2007, Ganea topped the lot when he attacked an assistant referee after being sent off whilst playing for Timisoara. It resulted in him being banned for a mammoth 22 games.

What happened next?

A whopping 14 goals in 18 games was Ganea’s next offering, he did this at Dinamo Bucharest.

After this, his playing career petered out with Rapid Bucharest and Politehnica Timișoara.

This wasn’t the end for Ganea though, anyone with the emotional involvement in football that the Romanian had, was always going to end up in the dugout!

Since 2010 he has managed eight teams, including Rapid Bucharest. He was last known as manage of Târgu Mureș in 2017.

He recently was in the role of technical director at Dunărea Călărași.

Perhaps the most shocking and surprising thing of all is that after retiring from football in 2011, he has remarkably made a playing comeback at the age of 48 with Dumbrăveni, a fourth-tier team in his native Romania.

He was still making appearances in 2022!

Explaining his return to action, he said: "I'm still exercising, physically I'm... healthy. I registered with Dumbrăveni, I reprofiled myself, I play at closing, Ionuț Lupescu's style. Center back was harder, these younger guys would have sped past me."

Anything else?

His son is a footballer too and one to watch out for.

George Ganea currently plies his trade for FC Craiova and is tipped as a player for the future.

Ganea himself knew that from an early age though.

Speaking during his time at Wolves, Ganea told of his six-year-old son’s goalscoring antics.

The youngster had netted 10 goals in seven games at the time in the season and Ganea predicted that his son would eclipse him.

He said: “He has learnt from me but I hope in the future he will be better than me.

"I don't know if he's got my football genes. I do think he'll be better but we'll have to see what happens in the future."

Ganea was a touchline parent at the time but even back then he admitted he wanted to get into coaching.

"A friend of mine coaches the team because I have no time," he said.

"I could probably do Sunday morning but they have to do training as well and I don't have the time for that so it's just watching.

"It was good last Sunday because it allowed me to forget my red card. I could just watch him and he helped by scoring a hat-trick.

"That's the second this season - in one game he scored four goals.”

Fan's favourite

As mentioned previously, it was Ganea's desire and feel for goal that made him such a big hit with the fans.

The Molineux crowd have always loved a striker, but they like passion even more.

Here's a few comments from popular Wolves forum Molineux Mix in 2005.

Fred Flintoff: There's just something about Vio. He gets stuck in, he shows he cares,
he's a real cult figure at the club and the fact he wears Bully's no.9 shirt makes him and his goals all the more special.

G-Wulf: Apart from his obvious ability, the thing I like about Vio is that he actually looks for fans to go and talk to at the training ground - the guy has got time for everyone. One of the big down sides of football nowadays is the loss of connection between fans and players.

FF is right....Vio does feel like one of us and obviously adores and appreciates the fans. The football world could do with more with his attitude.

SOA WOlf: Also remember when we got relegated Vio stated he wanted to stay and get us back up, said he liked the club, the fans, the area and the people...always chases and gives 100% and this guy has played in World Cups and is hugely respected in his own country...also believe fans of every team he has played for have always loved him too...just a few managers who have not known how to use him properly.

Love the guy's attitude, his skill and the fact he is a predator.....and we need one of those.....good signing Jonesy.