Bananas

It's pretty clear by now we have to get the defence sorted. Any team other than Super League minnows scores against us. Other than Ingason and Sidcley all our other defenders are deficient in some way, be it age, experience or defensive frailties. I don't think this can be fixed with the current squad. I'm sure Lucescu knows this now - I guess he worked with the squad to see what they can deliver but it's become obvious there is only so much you can do. The big question as always is what players can we pick up in the winter transfer that (a) are better and (b) will actually come to play in Greece. P.S. Great news regarding the re-signing of Zivkovic.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I was watching the highlights of Panathinaikos vs Ionikos and I'm like "that looks like Canas" and sure enough after checking the squad for Ionikos it is he. Looking as passionate as ever when they scored ha ha. He was a good player for us.

Prouder ? Maybe psefto pride. I can tell you what we were back then - we were poorer, unorganised and lacking trophies. We were the bitches of Athens with no owner who could stand up for the club (because that’s how it works in Greece unfortunately). All we had were our european nights (and they were good) the occasional derby win against POK (but we knew deep down we would not win the title) and the fans/Toumba ( but the fans even shat on that by getting us banned for 5 years). We would pay our players peanuts and even then fail to pay them and have to release them or sell our talented players. Shameful and worse, embarrassing. I’ll take what we have now over that. I’ll take having a respectable budget, 4 Cups, 1 League title thanks. I do agree with you the signings have been fairly disappointing this summer - I expected better - but compared to the old days, man, you needed Xanax to get through those days - they were rough.

Maybe the rage can be like the old days and we get banned for 5 years from Europe. Ah those were the days.

Yep the group isn’t tough and we can finish first but we also might not qualify. Copenhagen and Slovan are nothing special but the truth is the same goes for us. I don’t think they’re quaking in their boots and they certainly haven’t penned us down as guaranteed first place.

A decent draw. Really there were only 2 teams to avoid 100% and they are Tottenham and Roma and I suppose all Dutch teams ha ha. It will come down to form and injuries and simply the game on the day. The teams in the group are fairly even for the most part. A guy from my work who is a Rennes fan would love to play PAOK. I have converted him after showing him clips of Toumba. He is not happy with their group. Easily the toughest group. To put it in perspective Rennes have spent 65 million so far on transfers and we have spent … 300K. Yes he likes to make fun of me. if you want to have a laugh go and look at the team value for the Lincoln Red Imps. To laugh some more check how much they’ve spent on transfers in their entire history. Anyway I guess we’ll see how good (or not) we are in the coming months. Definitely qualification from the group is the goal but it’s not a given. We’ll need to be ready or we’ll get a lesson.

What's the go with Tsiggaras ? Is he holding out for more money or is it something else ? We've seen this scenario multiple times and I don't recall it ever works out well for the player. Tzandaris did this and went from having a bright future with us to playing no games at Olympiacos and from there his career didn't improve. Siabanis similar but I guess he's not 100% failed.

Ha ha it is the truth.

I don’t think his account has been hacked, rather I think he was always here to troll. An imposter I tells ya. Just been letting a few too many things slip.

Asto, they’d still complain even if we won 5 leagues straight. You can’t stop the grinia.

That should be the last of your concerns. I’d be more worried about the lizard people that run the world. Seek and find the *real* truth.

Just media hype I reckon. If Akpom goes to Panatha, it'd be only because we choose not to make him an offer. Could even be his agent pressing the issue.

I'm not putting Savvidis on top of PAOK. I just prefer a PAOK with an owner who is a billionaire compared to a PAOK of old where we had cheap skate, broke assed scumbags (with the exception of Zagorakis) "owning" the club. If Savvidis left we'd possibly go to the "good old days" of Batatoudis and Goumenos and in today's world where money is everything in football that would be it. Who knows, maybe you'll get your wish one day and Savvidis will tire of the criticism and just think what the hell, I don't need this crap, I pour in 100 million and these gooses still curse me.

Yeah maybe not having G4 at the games is a joke but people getting infected at games and passing it on is not a joke. Public health or G4 ... which should be favoured ?

If Savvidis let's in G4 unvaccinated and people die from it, he'll get blamed. If he doesn't let in G4 he gets blamed. How can you win ? I am beginning to think PAOKSYD is really a reds supporter in disguise.

Terrible news concerning Oliveira. To be fair I didn't want us to sign him in the first place but he's actually looked pretty decent and kind won me over - at least I don't think he's totally crap and is kind of an intelligent footballer. Our one major signing intended to be in the first 11 and he's injured for at least 6 months. That's just great.

@PAOKSYDI'm thinking of starting a petition for Savvidis to leave. Can you assist with this by signing ? My conditions will be :- (a) he must give the club away for free since I don't see anyone buying it at full value. Preferably he gives control of the club to G4 ultras who combined probably have an IQ greater than Savvidis. (b) any funds required to run the club come from your pocket. Fair ?

I would add pre Savvidis we promised players low wages and still didn't pay them. With Savvidis they actually get paid. Our biggest problem is the poor state of Greek football. If Savvidis was at PAOK 20 years ago I'm sure he would have attracted better footballers. Still he has made mistakes and I'm not going to bother getting into them as what's done is done. What is sure is if for whatever reason he left the club we would regress MASSIVELY. The simple fact is he puts more money in than the club can generate on its own. The club is unfortunately not self sufficient and if he left our budget would be probably 1/3 of what it is today. In layman's terms, we'd be F***ed.

We'll finish second not because we are "second best" but because the other teams in the league are so terrible. Every other team other than Olympiacos has gone backwards or at best sideways with the exception of Aris who to their credit have become quite a competitive team in the last couple of seasons.

The opposite ? So we should be starting later ? Like September ? 😀 The point is ideally we should be at the teams in the league should have played 3 to 4 matches in the league by the time european qualifiers are played. We need to give our teams the best chance to qualify. I'm pretty confident both AEK and Aris would not have been knocked out if they had more games and match fitness under their belt. As for us, we struggled against a semi amateur team. f***ing shambles.

You’d think by now EPO and the teams in the GSL would have worked out we should be starting our seasons earlier than in previous years. As each season goes by and we drift down the UEFA rankings the qualifiers become key. And the best preparation is starting earlier. Instead we get this like we’re in a monty python film.

What is it with our team and long term injuries. Would love to see that stars on that. Who do we sign now ? Any prospects in the youth ?

Ultras gotta wake up. It’s not the 1990’s or 2000’s when players like Rivaldo, Silva, Giovanni, guys that were still top class came to Greece while still in their prime. Our league is now not even 10th choice for most players. If they can’t sign for a team in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France then they will look at Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Russia, Turkey and then if they aren’t interested in China, Saudi Arabia they will consider Greece. You get my meaning. The gulf in money has become extreme and our league as well as others are suffering for it. The clock can’t be unwound. The teams in the Greek league have to adapt … somehow and make the best of it.

Very handsome. 😀