Bananas

That's the essence of the problem with the Greek public sector. The percentage of the work force employed in it is meaningless, in and of itself. What is important is whether actual productive work is being done. I only found out recently about double pensions. That made me smile.

The tricky thing is picking who is "best". When Stevens was manager it was Kitsiou although Skondras wasn't given a chance and I'm not sure if Konstantinidis was in the senior team. When Anastasiadis was manager it was Skondras. Kitsiou went missing and Konstantinidis wasn't given much of a chance. With Tudor, Skondras has really regressed. Kitsiou has upped his form and is a bit more consistent. Konstantinidis was the best before his injury. It would help if their form was more consistent, although to be fair to Kitsiou and Konstantinidis they are still developing.

Good lord I am enjoying Leicester's run this season. Hello, what's your name ? Man City, is it. Here you go, have 3 goals. Then you get the rocket scientists who come out and say "they probably won't win the title". Seriously ? Enjoy the ride for what it is.

Agree fully, and I find it intriguing that this is so. The US bucks the trend of most first world countries when it comes to religion. Australia had the concept of religion built into its constitution from its very beginning. Before each parliamentary session, the "Lord's Prayer" is recited. And yet in Australia if a politicians mentions "God" in every day language, he/she will be looked at as if they are a fruit loop. The vast majority of people really don't care if a politician believes in (a) God or not. It is (and this is a good thing), of little relevance. Why it's such a big deal in the US, I don't really understand. One thing is for sure, if you want to lose an election in the US today, just say you don't believe in God. On the other hand, we have our own silliness here in Australia, as Red Sheriff rightfully points out. Even trying to have a discussion on this issue, even in the name of discovering truth, is a guaranteed way to become hugely unpopular. Some ideas just can't be touched ... at least not while certain generations of people are alive. Please, say it isn't so. Then again, the book of Genesis does have some really cool stories.

Ha ha. I was just going to ask how Chatzisias played. Thanks for the post PAOKSYD. I was also thinking that Vitor's time might be up. He's been a decent player, without ever being great. As you say, I've never felt 100% with him at the back there. Was Vellidis that bad ? Surely he can't be worse than Olsen. But, for the reported transfer fee you'd like to think he's better than Glykos ... As far as signing a number 10 goes, I can only assume the one's we liked didn't want to play for us. It's tricky to sign a quality number 10, that's in form, during the Christmas transfer period. Sabo, well, I only hope he does a Tzavellas next season and improves immensely. Tzavellas was for the tip last season. He's been very good this season.

I am surprised Antonis hasn't been given a shot yet. He's generally a composed player, which PAOK sorely lacks. But it's hard to say what's really going on. Maybe he's not performing well in training ?

I wonder how much money PAOK gets out of this deal. Thanks Savvidis.

Be afraid of anyone that is extremely religious or extremely patriotic.

Ah come on, what the governments, diplomats and multi-nationals want is very different to what the people want. No common citizen in the EU wants anything to do with Turkey. To say they are in a strong position geopolitically is fair enough, but adored is a big stretch. Not sure what you're trying to claim here. Are you confused ? Yes, we all know Turkey and Russia use their power to bully. I'm simply stating that as nations, their isn't much to admire ... at all. Who would want to live in such countries. They suck.

At least Arnesen is there. As long as he's still Technical Director, I have a small glimmer of hope. It could be the case that he's not the man to improve the team, but please, let the man try. Give him a budget, a real budget, and let's see what he can do. Who out of the rabble from the past can do better ?

Berbatov is in the squad. Sothikame.

I don't even know why Vezyrtzis was hired. What does a Vice-President do anyway ? As for him, he was in the media nearly every day. Maybe he thought he was running the club. Ante yia.

A game so clever they managed to lose all of their Empire, and are now despised by pretty much almost every country that has any dealings with them. I wouldn't consider Turkey or Russia models of social or economic progress. There really is not much to admire about both of these nations. The truth is, they are backwards, and their thinking is based on "Balkan" strategy, but one which doesn't really apply in the modern world. I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of the "law" in either of these countries. Backwards, violent, corrupt.

Vukic, now there is a true super sub.

Ha ha, good going pash on the thread. As for the game, I imagine we'll play similar to the Dortmund matches, where we sat back and tried for a quick break away. The laughable thing will be if we manage to scrape a lucky win in which case it will be ... Tudor is the man ... and then the next week we'll lose to a nobody team and they'll want to lynch him. With no Rogrigues or Jairo, it leaves only Mak up front to try and create something. Klaus may do something between now and when our sun becomes a red giant in roughly 4 billion years from now, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The interesting thing will be seeing the young guys and how they cope ... or don't. As pexoun me pathos kai oti gini.

Your thoughts Blackhawk ? I thought overall, Jack had done a good job. Professional and the act alone of chasing, wooing and finally getting Arnesen was a major achievement. I'm surprised by this.

I for one am happy with Costa being released. Utter waste of money. I feel defiled just thinking about how much money he took from PAOK. Better to get a young kid into the squad and see what they can do. At the end of the season (where we will end up 3rd to 5th regardless) we can assess and move on. For myself, the biggest priority is finding out what the heck is going on with all our injuries. It's beyond farcical. Are certain players in the squad just prone to injuries ?

If we sack Tudor, I'll be taking a hiatus from PAOK for a while. I thought the idea for this 1st season of the 3 year plan (queue laughter) was to get rid of the old players from the squad, bring in youth and begin to develop a core of players on which to build on. Here's an idea you idiots, if you want to win more often, go and spend big dollars to get a number 10 and striker, and more big dollars to get two CB's and a GK that aren't stooges. Instead, you want him to build a super team with Tziolis in the middle, a back line that can't defend for crap, Olsen as GK, the rest of the squad half injured. Ase mas. But yeah, let's crucify the manager because that's what the "fans" want and you know, it's worked so well in the past. If he does go, I'll be looking forward to lots of signings of players that are 30+ years old. Bring on the good times.

I wouldn't call making 8 signings mid season ideal. Then again, in their case it's the new manager calling the shots. We made our 12 signings earlier in the year. More than enough. All our signings except for Perpatov were young. Overall, I was happy with the summer transfer period. As for this period, we've signed 2 out of 3 positions we really needed to solidify. GK, CB (finally) but I don't see us signing a number 10. Knowing our luck, Chatzi will get injured soon.

I'm happy with the signing of Chatzi. He's a good age and he's got some height on him. Hopefully he can help solidify the defence which has been porous for over a season now. I'll be even happier once Costa is gone. Looking forward to seeing how Chatzi combines with Tzavellas. Not sure what is going on with Kace but right now it might be best if we sell him. A year ago, I would've been almost in a state of panic at the thought of him being sold, but with Charisis and Cimirot now, I'm not so concerned. Ideally he stays, but it looks like he wants out. Mak will be a massive loss. Players like him aren't easily replaced. As for signing a dekari, I don't see it happening. I hope we don't just sign someone for the sake of doing a transfer.

Welcome PAOKSYD. You can use this site as a free form of therapy for the anguish that PAOK causes us.

This Boston crew is a bit of a worry.

Ha ha, Deportivo fleeced us. Hopefully he gets transferred for a decent amount and we can make a few more millions. Here's hoping.

Add whatever we sold Lucas for in the first place. Was it 2 million ?

Hopefully he's good in the air and can help with defending at set pieces. According to transfermarket, his height is 1.93m so that can't hurt. He'll probably be the tallest player in the squad.