Bananas

Still trying to get used to the fact that 400K feels like low wages by our standards these days.

Good draw. Was kind of hoping for Olympiakos or AEK but it is what it is.

Anyone know why El Khaddouri wants to go to Parma ? Does he really think he’ll get more playing time there than with us ? I can’t say I’ll miss him but I’m more concerned with depth of the squad and the stability of the squad. Not digging all these changes (even though they’ve been mostly unavoidable) when we are having such a good season. Hopefully Misic turns out to be decent and I’m really digging the 1.5 year loan.

Is that the same wage for Biseswar as what he was on ? Not asking for triple the money like Varela ha ha. As for Warda, we all know his potential but the guy is a stooge. Just lacks professionalism but most importantly can’t be relied upon. For a team like Atromitos where winning week in week out isn’t critical, he’s perfect. For PAOK, not so much. Maybe he’ll learn. Most probably he won’t.

Worst signing ever ? We should do a thread poll ha ha. Concerning Leveque, how is it possible the club can terminate a contract ? If he’s injured, then he’s injured. Obviously there is some clause or such, just wondering what it is.

I remember Kyriakos Savvidis from a few years back. He had some nice touches and seemed like he had some potential. But in this PAOK he wouldn’t ever get a run. Hopefully he can make a go of it at Aris.

Ha ha Yiankos. That is gold.

We still might keep Varela. It just means that now if he does go, it’s not so critical. Obviously it would be ideal if we kept him and had 3 top CB’s.

How was Akpom and the new kid Lyratzis ?

Rumours of an offer coming for Hatzeridi from Ukraine. I find it hard to believe any club would be interested in him.

Biseswar for 3 more years. Hell yeah bitches.

Travnik has some seriously insane statistics. 10 goals and 10 assists! I know it’s the Czech but still. Anyway, I think he’d be there (a) as a replacement for El Khaddouri and (b) as a backup to Mauricio. The Icelandic CB sounds very good also. It would also SERIOUSLY reduce Varela’s bargaining power. On El Khaddouri, I don’t understand what’s up with him. There were never really any indications he wasn’t happy at the club. Now all of a sudden he can’t wait to leave. Or at least that’s the way the (reliable ha ha) media are making it out to be. I’ll be fine with him leaving once we have a replacement. Right now we do need him for rotation and he does often enough provide some spark in attack. He’s also got that ability to dictate tempo but he’s small fry compared to Biseswar in that area.

I'm *really* interested to see how Giannoulis goes over the second half of the season. I'm really hoping he's a solid rotation option for LB. Yiankos, agree with your comments about Varela. He's just fishing for what he can get. I think as pash suggested (and I believe the club is offering) 1 million is more than reasonable. To be fair, Varela has been excellent the last 12 months or so, but still, 1.4 million, I don't think so my man. I would be more than happy to see Varela and Crespo as the main duo at CB for next season. As for rotation and depth, that we will see. Lots of options.

Making the room up now.

Great to see actual progress in re-signing existing players. Crespo, Paschalakis. Biseswar hopefully soon. Varela is a tricky one. At 1.4 million that's getting pretty expensive. Makes you wonder on the one hand if we can get better/younger for that. On the other hand, he and Crespo have been so very solid at the back. The midfield there is less of a rush. Only Biseswar has to be sorted out asap. Canas, Shakhov especially now that Misic is at the club for 1.5 years may have lost some bargaining power. I would be happy to re-sign both Canas and Shakhov but I do believe they are very replaceable also.

Yeah man. Free transfers were the norm for a long long time. And any wages over 100K were for the few best players in the team. And next time I'm in Melbourne you're paying, because your bank balance is healthier than mine.

Shakhov goal at 10:15. And then he cramps up ha ha.

Let’s see what happens with Swiderski. I don’t really care as I was never excited by this signing but the fact that we might lose it after acting like it’s a done deal is what I find amateurish. As for Shakhov, yes he’s definitely been solid. He has his flaws but they are flaws that are inherent to him, that is to say, his his defensive game. He’s not good when the opposing team controls possession, and drives down the middle. His attacking game though is fairly good. He can time his runs and is solid in the air too. Sometimes I think people forget the silly goals we used to concede off set pieces not so long ago. As a rotation can’t ask for much more. He’s also scored some important goals for us. Assuming he’s happy to stay at the club, I’d like him to stay.

We already have a young guy that is developing well. His name is Koulouris! Strange. Just seems like a signing for the sake of a signing.

There's also this video which isn't too bad. Jump to 11:11 where he discusses the PAOK squad. It's quite good. You can see the player stats in English. You can take the players stats with a grain of salt although FM has always been known for its "more" realistic player attributes. In the past the Greek League stats weren't accurate enough for my liking but I think they're getting better. Of note is the Staff List at 23:59. We have a lot of staff! Although I think some of the info must be wrong. I'm fairly sure Lubos Michel was on more than 43,5000 pa.

You'll find other player wages at the link below. http://www.fmgreece.gr/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=14 Not sure if it's 100% accurate but I believe they are, or at least very close. I did tally them up a while back and our wage bill for the first team was approximately 27.5 million including tax.

Varela's wage is 860K including tax. So approximately 600K. Agree Hatseridi's wage has set a bad precedent.

First signing from new TD and it already has a bad smell to it.

You people are all gamblers! Akpom could get injured, then what ? Karelis to me is very average. As for Bonatini, who knows if he’ll be any good.

Media reporting Giannoulis returning from loan. Hopefully true. Will add depth to the LB position and I’m just plain curious to see how he plays in our team. Would be great if he can become a first team regular.