On one occasion, students asked Ćira how he overcame the difficult beginnings in Switzerland. And Ćiro then gave them advice that they never forgot...

A few years ago, the great Ćiro was a guest of honor at a student forum. Inside the small space near the Student Center in Zagreb, so many people gathered that there was no air. There was no place to sit and no place to stand. Dozens of students remained standing outside just so they could hear some legendary statement from the legend, a man full of charisma.

Ćiro then started telling stories about his football journey. About Switzerland, Bosnia, Iran, Croatia and Dinamo. He talked about his poor origins, rich present and greatest victories. He spoke about Dinamo in 1982, Vatreni in 1998 and long-term victories over cancer.

— This disease is not as strong as I have money for the best doctors! — said Ćiro about the secret of his health.

However, one legendary statement remained the most memorable from the entire stand.

When one of the students asked him about how he overcame the most difficult beginnings in Switzerland, he answered in his own style.

— Son, it's very simple for you. I came to Switzerland, I knew nothing, I didn't know anyone and I had nothing. I came to a gentleman for work and he told me. "Here's a broom for your mother's pussy." I took that broom, kept quiet and worked. That's how I passed. Everyone who wants to work should be told: 'Here's a broom, your mother's pussy!' — and that is the solution.

From that day, it became one of the quotes that was always repeated in our society. Whenever someone needs to go, we just add that broom and get to work.

From broom to victory

Miroslav "Ćiro"

Dino

– We know how you work, you have a free hand, but if you are not profitable, a foot in the ass! –

Cira's beginnings in Switzerland were immeasurably difficult. He was looking for a coaching position, knocking from door to door of many clubs, but no one wanted him. In the end, he managed to become the coach of a club that no one wanted at the time — Vevey Sport. Although Vevey is famous for the invention of milk chocolate, the town could not boast of football successes at that time.

In addition to training and playing, Ćiro also had to work in the decoration studio there. His salary was minor for Swiss living conditions — 700 Swiss francs, while 500 went to his apartment alone. And he also had to feed a family of four. Later, he said that it was during that period that he realized how important money was "because you understand it best when you don't have it".

However, the difficult times in Vevey were also Ćira's springboard. In just four years, he introduced the club from the fourth league to the first. Thanks to this, he got a job in Zion. In those five years, he won the cup with the club and participated in European competitions twice. After those five years, there were rumors that the Swiss first division Lausanne Sport was considering Ćira as a new coach. Newspapers wrote about him: "Only Atila can make order".

However, the call never came. Ćiro was already a little offended. On the same day that he promised Filipini that he would stay in Zion for another year, he received a call from Lausanne, which he described in detail in his autobiography:

"- I am the vice president of Lausanne Sport, my name is Antonetti, I am delegated to negotiate with you.

Outraged that they are calling me so late, I brazenly reply: - You have no money for me! –

And he asks me: - How much are you looking for? –

I answer: - 200,000 Swiss francs just to come - and he decisively hangs up on me.

At that moment, my wife, who was listening carefully to our conversation, falls into a state in which I have never seen her before: - Idiot! - she says: - You ask for 200,000 Swiss francs, you keep me and these two children for five years in these mountains, instead of paying you 200,000 to go to Lausanne. –

I comfort her and say: - Well, they will call again - and she replies: - They will call you the mother of the devil, so they are not fools, an overbearing Bosnian! –

Antonetti again: - Give it to Mr. Blažević, find a reasonable price. And me briefly: – 200,000 CHF just to come! – and hang up the phone.

He always called at 12 o'clock. And the next day at that time he called again: - Mr. Blažević, where should we deposit the money? –

– Bank Societe Swiss Lugano, such and such a number – I had some money there just to keep the account active. The money was deposited the next day, and I'm going to the negotiations the day after tomorrow.

Dramatic! The Greek, Mr. Francopoulos, is angry because he doesn't like to negotiate after his pocket has already been taken. There is also Mr. Trujan, the president.

Francopoulos cheekily tells me: - We know how you work, you have a free hand, but if you are not profitable, a foot in the ass! –

I was very hurt by his words, because it was a very cheeky dialogue in Switzerland. - What does it mean to be profitable? - I ask him.

- An average of 7,000 spectators per match - he replied.

I ask him: - What is your average now? –

- 3500 - he says, and I, because of that "foot in the ass", say: - Lie! You had 2500. –

He turned to secretary Pizzoglio and she confirmed without hesitation: - Yes, Mr. Blažević is right. –

Still looking for rematch because of the "leg in the ass" statement, I come up with an idea that I never had before.

- Well, you are profitable with 7,000 spectators, but from every ticket sold above that figure, 50 cents is mine! –

Everyone is shocked, even me, and Trujan says to secretary Pizzoglio: — Write! —“

Since then, Ćira's matches had an average of 14,000 spectators, but he was not satisfied with that figure. So he came up with an idea. In order to bring as many spectators as possible, he announced already at the beginning of next week that in the next important game Lausanne against Servette, his goalkeeper Erich Burgener will play - center forward.

All the Swiss newspapers in those days wrote about Ćira, and on the front pages there would be a description written in capital letters: "GENIUS OR...?" In Switzerland, in fact, something could not be declared and retracted. Everyone knew that in that game the best goalkeeper would play center forward. And the stadium was full. Ćiro knew that this match was decisive for his future career. He remembered her in detail:

"People came from all over Switzerland to see this acrobatics. In the first half, Burgener scores a goal, and the stadium breaks. It's raining, and the stadium screams "Ćiro, stop the rain!"

Half time 2:1 for Servette. In the spearhead of Servette's attack is the famous Englishman Chivers, who scores four goals for my young goalkeeper with his head. Final result 7:3 for Servette.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, I go to the newspaper printing press, convinced that the question mark will still be in the headline. And for a great miracle, they write: "Genius! We saw an unprecedented spectacle, a full stadium, 10 goals, and he earned so much money...!"

It was already known then that Ćiro was an unprecedented talent and that he was on his way to becoming the coach of all coaches.

"Genius or...?"

— They raised to the heavens those follers from the coaches who came to the games even in football boots... as if they were going to play! —

In addition to Ćira's coaching acrobatics, statements and successes, his fashion style was also often written about. He was one of the first "coaches in suits". Because of this, some respected him, while others admired his good style.

He expressed his opinion about those who called out his fashion taste by publishing an elegant photo from his younger days. Under it he wrote:

"When I was a coach, I would wear a tracksuit during the week because I prepared the team in such a way that I always demonstrated all the exercises to them, but on the day of the match - that football holiday - I would always wear my best suit.

Out of respect for that event, the teams, the judges and, most importantly: the fans who came to watch us.

I was certainly one of the first in this part of our country, and some journalists did not understand that, or, well, they were malicious on purpose, so they wrote that I could not be a coach because of that. They raised to the heavens those footballs from the coaches who would not leave their sports equipment, and some of them, I remember it very well, came to the matches even in football boots... as if they were going to play!

Instead of the journalists making fun of it and turning it into some quality banter, they marveled at my patent leather shoes and a handkerchief in my jacket pocket.

Real coaches don't look like that, they wrote in those days, even calling me a dandy. If Ivo Tomić hadn't sung my white scarf so beautifully, I'm sure they wouldn't have liked him either...

I'm glad that in that matter, what a coach I was, I denied them with my results, and the fact that this elegant style eventually became the standard for all coaches in the world - although I've never seen a single one in such a good suit as this one of mine in the photo - is another small victory of mine over those mangupis."

Football elegance

- I told you, woman's head, where to break! - I exclaimed, then immediately eased the situation: - but, well, kudos to you! –

Ćiro was a true coaching showmaker. He could convince anyone to become a part of one of his schemes. On his Facebook profile, he shared an anecdote where he managed to persuade our biggest singing diva, Tereza Kesovia, to be the first to kick the ball on the field during a match in Priština. This is how the great coach described the event:

"That season, this will give you an idea of ​​the situation in that city, Pristina had the most spectators at home matches in Yugoslavia. Yes, you read that right, mostly! I found information that, on average, home matches were watched by about a thousand more people than Crvena zvezda. Three more than Hajduk, and even five more than Dinamo... And that tells us something about the euphoria that reigned there.

Before a match, I was preparing the team, I was giving them a dangerous speech about the historical importance of that match for their people, when the Kosovo politician Azem Vllasi ran up to me and said: - Boss, they are breaking into the stadium. There are 35,000 people in front, everyone wants to get in. –

No one could reconcile them, I say that responsibly, and the situation was becoming more and more dangerous. I quickly ran towards them, climbed onto the stand and waved to the people to calm down. They all sat down at the same second, I swear to mother Kata. They loved and respected me so much, and these feelings, I assure you, were mutual. If it had been different, we would never have been able to make the result that we made in the end...

When we secured our stay in the league, Tereza Kesovia came to Pristina as a special surprise. At that time, I don't even have to tell you, she was a planetary star. Even a pin could not fit in the stadium, which was packed to the brim that day. I asked Teresa to take the kickoff in the game and she said she didn't know.

- How come, you don't know? -, I asked her, but immediately added: - I will show you everything, because raja came only to see that! –

I found some kind of boots for her, the most shabby ones, which, in order to make them look decent, I smeared them with shoe cream and painted them black. The crowd in the stands roared, and she stood next to the ball and kicked it - but in the wrong direction!

After that, I took her in my hands and carried her across the field, she was delighted with the atmosphere, and she experienced the real shock only after the game.

Down in front of the Grand Hotel, the fans were throwing me so high in the air that I reached the second floor. Tereza Kesovia had a room on that floor, and when she came to the window and saw me flying in front of her window, she had a flash of lightning. Not even her, she admitted it to me many years later, such a thing had never happened. - You see, it's better to be a Pristina star... - I told her: - than a planetary one! - But that's just one of the details I experienced there. At every corner, in the haustor, on the street, I experienced such similar expressions of love. The chefs baked my chevaps and took them to the stadium, the women rolled me pies, and all the goldsmiths in Kosovo, after our result, brought me gold and ducats...

Those were incredible times that I fondly remember and, here, after more than thirty-five years.

My fans are still grateful to me today for what I did for them then, I can see it from everything you write to me here under my memories - not only from the free ice creams, coffees and chocolates I get from your grandchildren, whom you raised well - and I have a strong need to tell you all that Pristina, that city and that people, will forever remain my beautiful memory."

Tereza Kesovija also played for Ćira

However, you have to walk that way to the bench, and I wasn't sure if I would succeed or if I would collapse in front of them from weakness as if mowed down...

"In the spring of '82, between thirty and fifty thousand people would regularly come to the matches and chant my name in unison, as if someone were conducting them. I can't even describe to you what kind of orchestra it was! The Vienna Philharmonic was Mika, Pera, Laza against that...

If I could see so many of our fans in the stands before the game, and that didn't happen only at derbies but at every game, there would be no need to motivate my players at all. He would just point to the audience that had come to watch them, and they would run out of the dressing room as if they had been released from a chain. Under such a rush of euphoria, games would usually be decided in the first twenty minutes of the game. That's why, after all, I often point out that the audience is the most important. If they are not satisfied, our fans for whom all this is played, then none of it really makes sense.

I would come out of the dressing room that season, walk to the benches under the west stand and energetically wave my hand to my fans to lead them into a knightly battle. "We're going to fuck their mother!", I would exclaim, and the roar that would be heard then - I get goosebumps as I remember it - would echo all the way to Trešnjevka. We became, I felt it, more than a club - we were a real movement!

And then, in that period of my greatest popularity, Veselko Tenžera wrote: "Will the city's fire eat Ćira as well?". I thought he had lost his mind when I read it in the Vjesnik of that time. What will eat me, man of God, so don't you see how much people love me? I was surprised that he, who normally knew how to diagnose people's mood so well and had a fantastic sense of how this city breathes, would now make such a wrong assessment.

It turned out - admittedly many years later, but it turned out that way - that he was right. Overnight I became: "Ćiro - fag". I remember it all too well when it started, in Zagreb, the national team played a qualifying match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and sixty thousand people chanted in unison that I was a derpe!

However, I have to walk that way to the bench, and I wasn't sure if I would succeed or if I would collapse in front of them from weakness as if mowed down.

I remembered Tenžera at that moment, and his question. I don't know if it was just that bad luck, or if I had to bear my share of the general dissatisfaction of people at that moment, but - as Tenžera had predicted - it ate me up! (Even though we won that game, and I made a decisive tactical move by moving Šuker back to the back so that Boban could remain unguarded, it was still Pir's victory because it took me a long time, I swear by mother Kata, to recover from of that shock)."

Ćiro master, Ćiro derpe

When Ćiro was the coach of the football club Zadar about 10 years ago, he knew how to cheer up the fans regardless of the outcome of the match.

I remember when Ćiro was the coach of the football club Zadar, the Bad Blue Boys chanted to him from the stands: - Ćiro Pederu! –

And Ćiro gets up from his coaching position and turns to the Boys and raises his clenched hands in support and starts waving and sending kisses to all the fans!

After that gesture, the whole stadium gave him a thunderous applause, he really was a human size and always knew how to accept criticism or a joke at his expense!

Rest in peace God's coach of all coaches!! 😪🙏⚽️🥅🇭🇷

All the fans loved Cira

- Son, if this is 9 stamps, here are 10 and stamps for coffee! –

When once the national team members led by Ćira went to Malta, then I, giving advice to Ćira on what is better to buy in the DFS at the Pula airport, earned, in addition to getting to know him, a mancha (tip) with the words: - Son, if this is 9 stamps, here's 10 and a stamp for coffee! –

Thank you, Ćiro, both for the cake and for the honor of having the honor of hanging out with you once!

Thanks for the mancha!

On one occasion, a few years ago, I collected signatures on the Square for the "Rock Club". To my great surprise, Ćiro suddenly appeared.

I will remember our Ćiro Blažević as a wonderful person who was always ready to talk to everyone. He was popular among the people!

On one occasion, a few years ago, I collected signatures on the Square for the "Rock Club". To my great surprise, Ćiro also appeared to give his signature, although he never went.

The most interesting thing is that in no time there was a big queue. And Ćiro whispered to me: - Child, probably half of them won't come, but they saw me, so now they all sign! –

Even without that, he was always my idol! Rest in peace, may the angels watch over you!

They saw me, so now everyone is signing!

My wife with me, me like a little child when she sees a lollipop: - Look Ćiro, Ćiro! –, while she dead cold has no idea who it is...

The man is a gentleman, I remember meeting him on the Square. At that time, he led BiH turnip.

Approaching the man, I extend my hand, greet him, and he turns his head dead cold and greets his wife! Only after that he extends his hand to me with the words: - Son, first women and then everything else! –

There were a few more words exchanged and some jokes on his part, mostly a positive meeting.

- Son, first women and then everything else! –

- Neither Zvone nor I would give Šuker for ten Batistutas! –

In an interview before the third match of the 1998 World Cup with Argentina, Ćira was asked what he thought of the opposing player Batistuta.

- Neither Zvone (Boban) nor I would give Šuker for ten Batistutas! -, said Ćiro, and then he looked at Boban, who was sitting next to him, and added in his own style: - J*bo te Batistuta... -

At that, everyone in the hall started rolling with laughter, and Ćiro said: - Translate that, please! –

From broom to victory

On one occasion, students asked Ćira how he overcame the difficult beginnings in Switzerland. And Ćiro then gave them advice that they never forgot...

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