Ion Ionescu (footballer, born 1936)

Ion V. "Jackie" Ionescu (2 May 1936 – 30 June 2024) was a Romanian football player and coach.

He was mostly known for his coaching spells at Politehnica Timișoara with whom he won a Cupa României and reached three other finals, also eliminating Celtic in the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Early life
Ion Ionescu was born on 2 May 1936 in the Crai Nou village which is part of the Rudna commune from Romania. In 2016, during an interview with the Adevărul newspaper, he described his early life in Rudna:"I lived exclusively in Rudna, among Serbs. I was born in Crai Nou, but my father built a house in Rudna. It was nice. We had a neat house near the train station. We had fruit trees, a very rich vineyard, a small lake with fish, it was an idyllic country life before the Second World War, with Serbian friends, Hungarian friends, Romanian friends. We were all the same, there was no problem of misunderstandings.". In 1943 when he started school, his family moved to Timișoara, Ionescu saying about this period:"My father found a job at the town hall in Timișoara, and my mother - at General School no. 8. I was there too, but my mother was not my teacher. We moved to the Iosefin area, a central, highly developed area, another very multi-ethnic area. Fewer Serbs, many Hungarians, Germans, Jews. I was a neighbor, a few meters away, with Iolanda Balaș.". He explained that he got his nickname "Jackie": "During high school football, from the need for cosmopolitanism at that time, to have a cosmopolitan one in addition to the Romanian first name. Ion was not transformed into Jean, nor Ivan, but Jackie. At that time, this name was not only beautiful, but also dangerous. But I assumed it.".

Playing career
Ionescu started playing football in 1945 at age 9 at Politehnica Timișoara's junior center. He stayed at Poli for a decade, going through all the stages of the youth center, playing right midfielder and even catching a match for the senior team in a friendly with Flamura Roșie Arad in 1954, where his direct opponent was József Pecsovszky. In 1955 he went to play for Progresul Sibiu, shortly afterwards moving at Știința București for three years, retiring in 1960 because of an injury, being aged 24 after spending one year at Victoria București, having spent all of his career playing in the Romanian lower leagues.

Managerial career
He started his coaching career shortly after he ended his playing career in 1960 at age 24, being Eugen Mladin's assistant at Politehnica Timișoara in Divizia A. In 1961 he started working at Politehnica's Center for Children and Juniors where he would spent about three years, also in parallel he started working as head coach for the senior squads of Variaș and Gloria Timișoara in the lower leagues. In 1964 he started working once again as an assistant for The White-Purples, becoming head coach in 1966, having Nicolae Reuter as his assistant but after 11 rounds he switched back to being assistant, the team relegating at the end of the season. In 1967 he leaves Poli, going to work at neighboring clubs, Progresul and CFR. From 1971 until 1972 he was the assistant coach of Nicolae Dumitrescu at UTA Arad, the team reaching the quarter-finals of the 1971–72 UEFA Cup and finishing the championship on the second place. In 1972 at age 36 he returned at Politehnica in Divizia B, helping the team finish on the first place in his first season, earning promotion to the first league after a absence of five years. Then he reached the 1974 Cupa României final where they lost with 4–2 in front of Jiul Petroșani. He was the assistant coach of Constantin Cernăianu at Romania's students football team, winning the Universiade gold medal in the 1974 edition that was held in France.

In 1975 he went to coach Jiul after the 22nd round of the season, helping the team avoid relegation, managing to earn a 2–0 win over Dinamo București. In the following season the team finished on the 12th place, avoiding relegation once again. After a period spent at CFR Timișoara, Ionescu went to coach UTA Arad where he was dismissed by the end of his second season, leaving them on the 12th place from 18 teams, the club relegating without him. After a short period spent at CSM Reșița, he returned to Politehnica, managing to win the 1979–80 Cupa României, after a 2–1 win over Steaua București in the final. He participated with Poli in the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup, eliminating Celtic in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by West Ham United. Also he reached the 1981 Cupa României final, losing it with 6–0 in front of Universitatea Craiova. He left Politehnica shortly afterwards but returned in 1982 for only a short while, leaving before the end of the season at which the club relegated. After one year spent at Aurul Brad, in 1984 Ionescu signed with Corvinul Hunedoara where in the 1985–86 season the team impressed by having a three goals per home game scored, including a 9–0 win over Rapid București. He returned at Politehnica, helping it promote from Divizia B back to the first league where after a 2–1 home win over Dinamo, he had a conflict with the opponents coach, Mircea Lucescu who threatened that Politehnica would relegate at the end of the season which coincidentally or not actually happened. Shortly afterwards he signed with Sportul Studențesc București where he worked with Lucescu's son, Răzvan who was a player but had no problem with him. In 1990 he returned for a second spell at Corvinul but left after the clubs officials allegedly asked him to throw a game with Universitatea Craiova. In 1991 he went for a final spell at Politehnica Timișoara where he finished the season on the 5th place at equal points with the third place and also reaching the 1992 Cupa României final which was lost at the penalty shoot-out in front of Steaua. He then participated with the club at the 1992–93 UEFA Cup edition where in the first round they faced Real Madrid, obtaining a 1–1 at Timișoara and losing with 4–0 on Santiago Bernabéu. After a spell at Progresul București from 1993 until 1994, he went back at UTA in 1996, this time in the second league. In 2002 he had his final coaching spell at third league side, CSU Timișoara.

Ion Ionescu has a total of 496 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 194 victories, 89 draws and 213 losses.

Writing
Ion Ionescu wrote five books about football:
 * Fotbal. Metode si mijloace de antrenament (Football. Training methods and means) - co-written with Angelo Niculescu (1972)
 * Fotbal – Tactica astăzi (Football – The tactic of today) - co-written with Cornel Dinu (1977)
 * Fotbal – Concepția de joc (Football – The concept of the game) - co-written with Cornel Dinu (1982)
 * Fotbal – Tehnica și tactica jocului (Football – The technique and the tactic of the game)
 * O minge în Babilon (A ball in Babylon)

After retirement
After retiring as a coach, he worked as a university professor, was an advisor at Politehnica Timișoara from 2005 until 2007, columnist at various local and national sports newspapers and generally became known as football analyst with numerous appearances on TV and the radio. He received the Honorary Citizen of Timișoara and Hunedoara titles.

In July 2009, after Politehnica Timișoara played the first leg against Mircea Lucescu's UEFA Cup holders, Shakhtar Donetsk in the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 Champions League, Ionescu said:"We have a 70-80 percent chance of qualifying (...) Shakhtar is a modest team. It won the UEFA Cup by chance and because it met very weak opponents. In Romania, Shakhtar would be a team in seventh place!". Eventually Poli eliminated Shakhtar.

Death
Ion Ionescu died on 30 June 2024 at age 88 in Timișoara.

Player
Știința București
 * Divizia C: 1958–59

Manager
Politehnica Timișoara
 * Divizia B: 1972–73, 1986–87
 * Cupa României: 1979–80, runner-up 1973–74, 1980–81, 1991–92