Player Profile
The first and (I think) only Romanian to play for Orient, Adrian Marian Patulea played as a striker for the Os between June 2009 and January 2011.
Where Have They Been?
Born in 1984 in Romania, Patulea was in the youth team at Rapid Bucharest, before starting his professional career at his home town club FCM Targoviste aged 20, making 10 appearances and scoring 3 goals in his first season, before moving on to Petrolul Ploiesti. He spent 3 seasons there, scoring 5 goals in 23 appearances, but also had loan spells at Astra Ploiesti and Al Hamriya in Dubai.
In 2008 he moved to England and spent time training and on trial with Burgess Hill and Boston United before pitching up at the Lincoln City training ground and requesting a trial. City Manager Peter Jackson was unsure what to make of him but was persuaded to give him a chance after he was spotted running around the clubs training ground with his semi-naked girlfriend on his back to prove his strength!
Lincoln then decided to sign Patulea but ran into trouble when it turned out that Petrolul still held his registration and were demanding a fee. Somehow a deal was done and Adrian signed for the Imps in August 2008. He scored on his debut from the bench in a 2-0 win over Barnet before going on to make over 30 appearances that season and notching 11 goals as Lincoln finished mid-table in League 2.
That form persuaded Orient boss Geraint Williams to bring Patulea to Brisbane Road on a two year deal. He made 27 appearances for the Os in his first season – though 19 of those were from the bench. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 League Cup victory at Colchester and scored 2 further goals (1 in the league and 1 in the Johnstone Paints) as Orient finished 17th in League 1. However, a poor run of form saw Williams sacked mid-way through the season and it seems that new boss Russell Slade did not rate the Romanian. The signing of super-sub Jonathan Tehoue saw Patulea’s chances of first team action reduce even further.
Patulea converting against PAEEK
In September 2010 Patulea went on loan to Hayes & Yeading to secure some playing time. He scored but was then sent off on his debut in a 3-1 defeat to Kidderminster before making 8 appearances overall and scoring a further 2 goals for the conference side. On his return to Orient at the end of the year he was unable to break into the side and his contract was terminated by mutual consent in January 2011.
The striker then signed for Hereford in League 2 on a short-term deal until the end of the season but struggled to make an impact and failed to find the net in 6 appearances as the Bulls narrowly avoided relegation from the Football League.
Without an offer of a contract Patulea returned home to Romania and signed for 2nd Division side Farul Constanta – where Gheorge Hagi’s career started. Whether it was the language, the food or the style of football, being home clearly suited him and Adrian went on to score 15 goals in 27 games for the ‘Lighthouse’ club and attracted attention from bigger Romanian clubs.
After one season at Constanta he moved to 1st Division side CSMS Iasi in August 2012 and scored 6 times in 29 appearances but couldn’t save them from relegation. He led a nomadic existence around the Romanian leagues for the next few years, playing regularly but not scoring a huge amount before winding up back at Farul Constanta at the start of the 2015-16 season where he notched an impressive 22 goals in 29 appearances.
Those goals secured him a move to Pafos FC in the Cypriot second division where he again impressed, scoring 26 goals in 26 appearances, helping Pafos to promotion and ending the season as the league’s top scorer.
Strangely, Patulea chose not to stay with Pafos and moved to Alki Oroklini who had just pipped them to the league 2 title. For some reason it didn’t work out for Adrian at Oroklini and he failed to make an appearance for them before moving back to his old stomping ground in Constanta, where he smashed in 7 goals in 6 games!
Where Are They Now?
The start of the 2018-19 season saw Patulea again back across the Med in Cyprus signing for Omonia Aradippou in the 2nd Division. Patulea has made 6 appearances so far this season, scoring 5 goals, but Aradippou are struggling near the bottom of the table.
I hope some Os fans will remember this ‘colourful’ character – the only Orient player that I can recall sporting an Alice Band on the pitch! – and wish him well in the closing stages of his career.
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