Bananas

The whole situation is strange. I thought Ivic was a lock down for next season given we won the Cup. Sure the play offs went badly but when you look at the entire season as a whole, it was successful. On the plus side of the ledger :- - we won the Cup. Our first trophy in years. - seem to have fixed the issue with the injuries. Remember those ? - seem to have fixed our defensive frailties at set pieces. Remember those ? - cleaned out a lot of the dead wood and trouble makers. - built a solid core of say 15 or say players. A real core for the first time in forever. - had a good run in the second half of the season. - overall are playing fairly decent football. - managed to score 52 goals in the league (5 less than Olympiakos) with only one real striker who played only a handful of games and minutes. - Ivic understands Greek football. This should not be underestimated. On the minus side of the ledger :- - the team did start poorly, but what do we expect ? It was a new inexperienced coach with lots of new players and no core to begin with. - Ivic at times lacks tactical ... sophistication. Again, what do we expect. He's new and will learn. The naive mistakes he makes today hopefully won't be repeated tomorrow. - the play offs went badly. So I can't see how the club could be unhappy with Ivic. I can only guess that it's Ivic that has grievances with the club. Maybe he was expecting a certain salary after the Cup win and then post play offs that had been reduced and he's angry about it. Nothing else makes sense. As far as risk goes, Ivic is definitely the less risky option compared to getting a new coach. Sorry, I know this has been said 1000 times but a good proven coach is NOT coming to PAOK. Not given our history of firing coaches every season. If we get a new coach it could be the same crap all over again. Why risk it ? Stick with Ivic and let's see where it takes us. I think after another full season (my god, I can't believe I'm even thinking of PAOK sticking with a coach for 2 years!!!) then we can reassess.

Or charge them double so they stop ****** around with the violence.

Vieirinha, ha ha. Well, at least next season it's a remote possibility. But why would we pay for him when with that money we can get someone else. Even if he came for free he would want wages of close to a million I would imagine. All this for a 31 year old whose body has been battered the last couple of seasons. We all love the kid and I'd be happy to have him back in the squad at average wages on the proviso that he doesn't expect to start every game. He'd be a super option for rotation or impact player but there is no way he would accept that.

The whole situation is bizarre. There are rumours Ivic will go to Serbia but that doesn't make sense. That's not an upgrade. If I had to guess I think Ivic wasn't happy with the offer after the Cup win (incidentally, what is Ivic's salary ?), and maybe he thought wait till he "wins" the play offs and ask for more. Maybe now he's found the offer insulting ? Hard to say, I'm just speculating. As for the calls of bringing in a quality coach, @BostonThanatos summed it up perfectly. What coach, at the top of their game, would come to PAOK given our history with coaches ? The answer -> no one. The best we can hope for is a coach that was good once upon a time or an up and comer that isn't proven. I don't think it matters how much we offer in a salary, there is just no good reason for a good manager to come to Greece, at least, not to any team other than Olympiakos. On a side note, is Xanthi's coach still available ? Would he be any good ?

The last 5 years should tell us how difficult it is to find a good quality keeper. I just hope Glykos can make a good recovery and in the mean time I don't really know what the club will do. Maybe Brkic will get his s**t together because I'm sure he has to be a bit better than what he's shown so far. As for Glykos, a well deserved MVP. The guy has battled hard to get to where he is. Hopefully some squad members can be inspired by the emotion he showed.

Can't understand why we'd sell Cimirot for 5 if his buy out clause is 6. Regardless, we'd still make about 3 million on him even after subtracting the 15% owed to his former club. We'll need that because he won't be that easy to replace.

So long as we keep the core 16 or so players we'll be all right. I'd like to see Ivic stay if only to see what the team can achieve. Really, if you look at it objectively, the team has gotten stronger and stronger overall. Sure there's been dips but overall the team is heading in the right direction. If we do end up getting a new coach and there is a clear out of the squad, then we're just running on the spot.

Oh, I know you're happy ha ha. I just don't know what savoura we're going to get now. Are you thinking we can't get any worse ? I assure you at PAOK they specialize in running around in circles. Anyway, let's see what happens. I was complaining a while back that I just wanted one manager to last an entire season. Was that too much to ask ?!?! And now my wish was granted. Hats off to the first manager in the 5 year Savvidis era to last from the pre-season to the end of the season.

There must be something else going on behind the scenes that we don't know about. It just doesn't make any sense. From the second half of the season the team was quite stable and playing very good football. Sure there was the occasional game here or there but overall the best half season in a long time. Then we win the Cup. Everything is going just dandy. And now this ? Cool, yeah, we were bad in the play-offs but I don't see how that would be enough to sack Ivic. If that is our criteria, then we will be sacking coaches every year, which come to think of it, we do! :)

I know Ivic has still got a long way to become a complete manager but overall I thought he's done a decent job. I'd give him a C+. Not including the play-offs the second half of the season we were very good. We got the Cup, our first trophy in 14 years. I can't really say what happened in the play-offs but if Ivic's excuse is fatigue, that is a poor excuse as we have the strongest roster out of the teams in the play-offs. What I particularly like about Ivic is that he's played and lived in Greece for years. He understands the football in Greece and he's a PAOK boy which I believe is always a plus. If we bring in a foreigner, how will he cope ? Will he freak out when he realizes the the GSL is a b-o-u-r-d-e-l-o ? That is my bigger concern. Not the fact that there aren't better managers out there, but how can we get them to come to Greece and stay for the long haul. There is also the issue of when a new manager comes in they want to bring in 10 new players. Hopefully we don't have to go through that yet again. Anyway, let's see what happens. I am not super enthused about keeping Ivic because he's made quite the mistakes this season but will the alternative be any better ? At least with Ivic we can assume (or am I being silly) that he would at least get better and mature with time.

They could but they just don't. Unfathomable.

They would only be happy if we got -100 points from the league, 42 years with no fans and 1 billion euro fine. I think Marinakis should just concentrate on eating more donuts. He'd save himself some money by just buying a franchise.

That's right. The standard is very good at the round of 32. Olympiakos has been eliminated at that stage the last two seasons. It's not a walkover and if we are being real, we are little fish at that stage. It would be a good achievement to get past that point.

Sorry, not possible. Savvidis runs the league now. He's been running it for the last 5 years (and will be for the next 20). Get with the times man!

Seems to be a common theme recently. I don't watch enough games unfortunately to see what it going on. Are the players just not good enough, motivated enough, fatigue maybe ?

I don't think we've ever gotten past the round of 32. When you get that point, every team is good.

Relax manga. Take a lie down on this nice black leather sofa and I will listen to all your grievances. The truth is that PAO and AEK fans were quite ... fond of PAOK up until April 28th. I didn't hear anything about conspiracies, Savvidis running the league, and just general hateful comments towards Savvidis, Ivic and PAOK up until that date. Everything was rosy. In fact, we were one of the "3" trying to take on the Marinakis monster ... apparently. But then, on April 28th, the world changed. Something crazy happened. PAOK defeated PAO 4-0 in the semi final of the Cup. And then ... all hell broke loose. Now apparently, referees in Greece are perfect and never make mistakes. In fact, I've watched games for years and in general referees don't make mistakes. But in this game, there were mistakes! So by logical deduction, you have to ask yourself, why ?! And the only logical conclusion, if as we have shown that referees in Greece don't make mistakes, is that something was amiss. Foul play my friend, foul play. That free kick that lead to the Pelkas goal. Two clear penalties not given to PAO. The evidence is plentiful and is incriminating. And now onto the AEK game in the final. The offside goal, which where each week the margin gets bigger and bigger. First he was offside by a meter. Then two metres. In a while Henrique will be outside the stadium. Add to that the fact that Melissanidis (a virtuous and trustworthy soul) clearly told us after the game the linesman was paid. Just the one linesman mind you. Not the referee and the other linesman. Just the one linesman on that side, because apparently Savvidis and Ivic worked out which side the winning goal would come from. They had consulted with a gypsy in Dendropotamos. Who has the influence and power to effect such injustice ? The evidence clearly points to one pseudo Greek, a Russian in fact. On a side note, it is highly debatable whether anyone above the 40th parallel is in fact truly Greek but that is a discussion for another time. Such foul play! Such injustice! Such cunning and craftiness, to only pay off just the one linesman. I would go so far as to say the plan was brilliant if it didn't have such a stench about it. And in this world where a club like PAOK should be spat on, mocked, and just generally looked down upon, it just doesn't ... hmmm ... feel right when they win something at the expense of other more deserving teams. Like PAO and AEK for example. I mean, it just feels wrong. Why should those Bulgarians get to have some of the pie ? They've been satisfied with crumbs for decades, and now they want to sit at the table too! The insolence! Apparently being 4th and 5th for decades was not enough for these peasants. Now they want to actually sit at the table with the big boys. That is one possible version of events. The other possible version of events is that the ball is round and things like fitness, fatigue, injuries, form, luck play their role. Referees do make mistakes and do generally favour the home team. It's always been this way. Maybe not in the past because we had joker presidents (incidentally it looks like one of our previous presidents was sentence the other day to 6 years jail) but now the old "trick" of let's screw over PAOK means there could be actual repercussions. So you'll need to find a new trick. That one can't be played with such ease and nonchalance anymore. Even your comments of us trying to become the gavros of the next 20 years. Really ? Just because you can't screw us without lube anymore. And we've been doing what the last 5 years exactly ? You're saying we've been running the league for the last 5 years ? Are you delusional ? The simple truth is that we gave you guys a beating in Toumba, get over it. In the Cup Final with AEK our second goal was offside but people that follow Greek football can't accept the fact that an error could've been made. There must be some big band conspiracy behind it. The can was full, the can was half full, the can was empty, the firecracker this, the the the the the m-a-l-a-k-i-e-s. It's all just anger, hatred, the epitamy of the greek attitude of self entitlement. No humility, bend the facts, pick the ones that suit you, ignore the rest. As for the play offs, the best team won. This is the irony of the play off system. Last season AEK were the better team in the league and were 9 points clear of PAOK but ran out of puff in the play offs. This year the opposite. PAOK have been poor in the play offs. The system is inherently unfair and should be done away with but that is a discussion for another day. At least some Greek football fans can get joy seeing PAOK lose. Apparently, this is the one guaranteed way to make them happy.

Don't know much about him. Was he a cool dude ?

Tsipras will cut pensions again.

You ask for a lot jvc. For myself, I am just happy to get an owner that could pay the wages. Crazy, I know. It's sad for the Athens teams as they can't raid our roster like they used to. As for Savvidis, overall, he has exceeded my expectations. I still can't believe he paid off our tax debt to the government. I would've thought the smart move was to do like Melissanidis and prefer your team to get relegated to avoid paying the debt. Then again, PAOK's debt (not including interest accrued) was approximately 10 million where as AEK's was something like 130 million. Savvidis also cracked the magic "1 million" dollar mark when we bought Leovac and Cimirot. We paid 1.3 million for each. Hey big spender! I know, I know, Barcelona, Bayern, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Juventus, they are all quaking in their boots at the PAOK juggernaut that is arising from the ashes. Any talk of CL for any greek team, I just roll my eyes. If it happens, it happens but let's be real. Yes, I know, in around that time Mitsotakis will be "running" the country and I expect the Athens clika to go to the next level with political help. I expect nothing less.

8 yellow cards! My my we must be a bunch of animals.

Deep pockets means you'll be back in the game as far as bribing, threats etc. Welcome back to the club.

Feck. Terrible news concerning Glykos. Just on the tail of his best ever season for us. I guess we'll find out how good or bad Brkic really is. He hasn't been encouraging in the few games we've seen him but at the same time he hasn't had a run of games to get match fitness. We shall see.

I hope we don't sell Leovac and more so for Cimirot. Leovac was decent last season, poor the first half of this season (I remember the calls for him being replaced) and he's finally come good in the second half of the season. If anything we should be getting an equivalent or better LB to provide depth. As for Cimirot, he's been solid all the way through this season and has had very few poor games. Considering we paid 1.3 million for each player what should the offer be at which point we are satisfied with the sale ? I would think at least 2.5 million for Leovac and for Cimirot anything under 5 million I wouldn't even consider. He is 24 and is only going to get better. As for Leveque, I can't understand why we would be going for an injured player. Sure he may come good, but you're already playing with fire. Why risk it. All we need is for Leovac to get sold and for Leveque to be in and out of injury and we'll be calling for the purchase of another LB. The irony. We already have one, so keep him.

More brain farts from the young Savvidis. Seriously comes across as an idiot. I'd say he needs a good smack in the face but that wouldn't be politically correct, so I won't say it. http://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Paok/o-g-savvidhs-koroideuei-ton-hraklh-gia-ton-ypovivasmo-toy.4689396.html