Bananas

I'm with paokarag4 concerning El Kaddouri. He has very good technique and composure and I think that's why managers like him. He knows the game. He definitely switches on for bigger games or maybe it could be the extra space on the pitch suits him and he can play his game. For your average GSL match where the opposition park the bus he does seem disinterested and struggles to get into the match. He doesn't have that ability to impose himself or force a situation in those sorts of games. He has his place in the squad. Happy to have him if he'd like to stay but if he goes I think we'll be fine.

So do Besiktas.

Man this talk of videos has me all hot and sweaty.

Yeah the market pool is quite substantial. If we end up with say 7 million you would think that coupled with the wages saved from Vieirinha, Mauricio, Stoch and Wernbloom should get us about even, or hopefully with some room for a transfer or two. If not, then heaven help us. Having said that, I'm sure Vieirinha's negotiator (whoever that is) will now be saying "gimme more you're all flush with cash now".

Qualifying for EL Group Stages will bring in some sorely needed cash. Importantly, it will give us hopefully some leverage when negotiation for sales of players.

Well I gotta say I wasn't expecting to win, purely based on our very poor form in Europe in the last few seasons and the fact there are so many changes in recent times to the system and first team players. Add to that the dramas with Matos in the last 24 hours. We'll see what comes of that. Either way you cut it, this is a massive win. Qualifying for EL Group Stages is absolutely critical and we have achieved that. The pressure is off so to speak.

I am not hopeful of bringing in comparable replacements but I will be more than happy to eat my words. The only TD we had in recent times that brought in players that were clearly much better than what we had was Michel. He basically built the team that won the title. Branko was only good for looking serious at press conferences but basically has brought us some average players and so far an average manager all at expensive prices. I hope the new German TD turns out better.

Fair call regarding the wages not being completely gone. Regarding Vieirinha, I think 600K plus bonuses is fair for both parties. If he performs like he did in the title winning season, then throw the money at him. What's with the constant rumors of Paschalakis leaving ? Is he unhappy ? Am I missing something. Even though his form was down last season, he locked down the number 1 position towards the end of the season. I don't see what all the fuss is about unless we have plans to bring in someone much better, which I doubt given our budget problems.

So where do we stand now regarding FFP ? With Vieirinha, Mauricio, Stoch and now Wernbloom departing, that’s pretty much our 4 top wages gone. That would have to be 7 million or so reduction in the budget (including tax - a foreign concept in Greece).

Well Stoch 2.0 certainly didn't pan out. He had a really good season for Slavia before he came so I really thought he was going to kill it in Greece. There were definitely glimpses there but for some reason it just didn't happen. Getting rid of his high wage is a plus. That's Mauricio, Vieirinha and now Stoch gone. Warda must be feeling more secure - time to start singing some songs - di bi di bi di bi dai ...

Oof, is that the main jersey ? We've gotten points deductions for everything under the sun but never for having an ugly jersey. If we did, I wouldn't complain. ?

Update on Melbourne Australia. The rest of the country is doing ok although New South Wales is beginning to be a worry. Melbourne was been getting 300+ cases in the last fortnight or so. Then it spiked to 500+ cases in the last week or so. Melbourne is now in stage 4 lockdown as of last night. This includes curfews from 8pm to 5am, travel restricted to no more than 5 kms from residence, and others. More details here :- https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/02/victoria-stage-4-restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-19-vic-four-victorian https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-03/victorian-coronavirus-curfew-lockdown-stage-4-more-restrictions/12516636 In addition, there will be some new annoucements today concerning specific business industries. Some will be mothballed or restricted. The stage 4 lockdown at this point is for 6 weeks.

It’s a tricky one. On the one hand it could be argued he was the lynchpin and driving force to get us the title. And for that I will always be grateful. So throw the dollars at him. But on the other hand it could be argued he’s already been handsomely compensated for his services. I believe his wage was around 1.5 million. Going from 1.5 million to 500K is a bit too big a drop. 750K and it would’ve been sweet. I think it’s about ego at this point also. It’s not about the dollar amount itself, but more so the large reduction. One other thing is that he didn’t exactly set the world on fire this season. Still, given his influence in the squad and his history with the club I can only hope the club it works out somehow. It would be great if he could retire with us.

I'm 50/50 on whether I'd like to Akpom go. The price if true is probably about right. As pash said, he's a good kid and gives it all. He's just definitely not a striker. A forward yes, but he'll never get 20 goals in a season. He's suited to a 4-4-2 where he plays behind the striker. On a side note, who will take the kicks, elbows and hits now ? We've lost a few players that could take the hits. I wonder if this is why we've been getting stomped in the derbies.

Hmmm, good move going for a midfielder as our midfield has been poor and I don't think it'll improve considerably without a decent transfer. Hopefully this guy has something to offer. No surprise we haven't heard of him as we aren't really able to shop for and attract better. Having said that, I always maintain there are lots of quality players out there that haven't "made it" for one reason or another that are more than capable of playing in Greece. I guess this will also be a test of the new TD since his sphere of knowledge and influence will be more Germano centric. He can't do any worse than Branko can he ?

Ideally, the opponent would be from a league where games haven't been played in a long time. Of course, AZ are a special case as the Dutch are our kryptonite.

Check yourself mate, lest your post gets deleted!

There are players out there that are cheap or can be brought in on a free transfer. The problem is having someone that has the vision to spot a player and wages. Examples of players we brought, Mak, Rodrigues, Lucas all under a million. Michel brought Matos and I think Mauricio as free transfers. Campos and Biseswar I think also we’re free transfers. Prijovic considering what he did for us was a steal at roughly 2 million. Crespo was cheap. Varela 1 million. Canas and Shakhov I think free transfers. I’d have to check some but you get what I mean. If you want Oliviera quality, that’s just too difficult right now. We just don’t have the budget. As to paschalis point, he is right about the difficulty in getting players to play in Greece. Most of the names mentioned were swayed by a fairly high salary, which has now given us problems with FFP which need to be sorted out. Still, what was done I believe had to be done to compete for the title. It will be interesting to see how the team juggles the roster and wages to accommodate FFP regulations.

Aris well and truly did a number on us this season. Hats off to them. We couldn’t even beat them when they have only 13 players available. What I’m quite certain of is we lack a “killer” striker. Akpom battles but will never pop in lots of goals. He’s a different sort of player. Swiderski is ok but a bit on the soft side. He ain’t no killer. its really simple for next season. Get a better striker if you want to contend for the title.

We've never been tested. The only thing we're good at is receiving points deductions which we seem to excel at. I guess there was the Ivic fiasco with the beer can (was it full, was it empty, was it half empty) but for myself and many other PAOK fans that never sat well. What Ivic did was ridiculous and he should have seen the game out. Regardless, hats off to Melissanidis for a reasonable decision. Henceforth, I shall refer to AEX as AEK. So let it be written, so let it be done.

For the money Fener is offering it's not even worth thinking about. Maybe they're using the FFP situation as a bargaining chip. Still, I'd be disappointed if we sold him for so little.

Yes anything is possible. I'm ok with the CL qualifiers. It's the EL qualifiers where we should be winning where we've fallen.

We miss you Yiankos. Don't worry about @Tzatziki. We'll take him out the back for a good old fashioned touch up.

It’s not that simple for AEK. They have always felt aggrieved for the title they lost on paper in 2008 so for them to do this would be a huge about face. There is the risk some of their own fans could turn. As for Olympiacos, they should seriously consider creating a law firm as a side business. Being litigious comes naturally to them. Our Scottish friend raises a good point regarding if the clubs even need to raise the complaint. Shouldn’t EPO action it regardless. And to make matters worse, shouldn’t officials of some sort have checked said paperwork before games went ahead. What a bourdelo of a season it’s been, even by Greek standards.

What is the point of these player passes ? Sounds like a case of red tape for the sake of it. Who is ineligible and why ? Did a player suddenly appear that isn’t part of our squad ? Apparently the club forgot to fill in the TPS reports. You want to see cheating, you should’ve seen back in the day in junior soccer where teams would dodgy up the “passports” to field older players. Anyway that’s another story.