Blackhawk

Can I ask you one question? How long have you been following Greek football?

The season was going good because there was a change in the EPO leadership, which was not controlled by Olympiakos as in the past. As a result Superleague became competitive and other teams finally had a good chance of contending for the title. Seeing that they lost control they decided to sabotage the whole thing.

PAOK is not the innocent party here. It's a very small part of the overall problem in Greek football and Greek society. This whole issue has political overtones written all over it.

I don't disagree with that, and he should be punished accordingly. The fact is that the game was progressing without any problems until it was decided by the ref to steal the game from PAOK. Had the ref stuck with his original decision we would not have all this hysteria right now. I have been watching the videos of the whole incident over and over since yesterday, and I am convinced that the offside call was reversed by the fourth official who was 50 meters away after he was attacked by Lyberopoulos and the entire AEK bench. Just my opinion.

Once again the Undersecretary of Sports decided to suspend the season in order to clean up football in Greece. What a joke. It will re-start in couple weeks and everything will be the same as usual.

The ref's account of the goal in the match report clearly show that he is a liar. The video shows completely different timeline of the events. We can now expect a modified match report. It's becoming a habit.

I beg to disagree with this comment. The knowledge that he was carrying a gun became known way after the shouting incident. During the whole incident he was wearing a jacket and the concealed weapon was not visible to anyone. The claim that he threatened the ref with the gun is just misleading and it is just a propaganda spread by people that have anti-PAOK bias. Same thing with Michel. We are just hearing one side of the story. Watching the video it appears that he is telling the ref that the game is finished and not that HE is finished. I watched the video few times and all I can see is Savvidis and Michel storming the field to take the team and leave the field. Thankfully this did not happen due to Vieirinha's actions stopping him from doing so. Was it wrong for Savvidis (and Michel) storming the field? Yes, but in no way there was Savvidis and his bodyguards terrorizing the ref and AEK players. For that he and Michel should be punished accordingly.

AEK came to Toumba for one reason. Not to lose the game. Tie suited them very well.

Biseswar needs to come in. Starting Limnios was a gamble that did not pay off. AEK will get tired a the game goes on. Mak could be another option put some speed upfront.

Looks like there is a net over the visitor's bench. Toumba pretty full considering only 12 hours ago the game was going to be without fans.

Not sure starting Limnios was s good move. We'll see.

After the court decision this game will now be played with fans. I am curious to see what the attendance will be tomorrow on such a short notice. This is a very important game, that will put us back into the driver's seat if we manage to win. Hopefully our players are mentally ready.

Half-assed decision. Because of all this we are going into tomorrow's game 2 points behind AEK instead of being ahead possibly by 4 points. This whole circus completely derailed our winning run and basically put AEK back into the title race. Also, I can guarantee you that after all this Olympiakos will get their 3 points back as well. After all this farce, tomorrow is a must win game.

I don't think so. I think that a collective agreement is not going to happen next season. Rumors are that 8 teams already came to an agreement with NOVA. Each with a separate contract, but nothing has been announced officially. The only contract in place for the 2018-2019 season is between NOVA and PAOK. Apparently there was also a meeting between Superleague and COSMOTE last week, but no news came out of it.

As opposed to the original hearing this judge at least let all parties to present their case and he actually listened to them. He even let the video showing the paper not hitting Garcia in the head as evidence, which was not the case in the first trial. Let's see if this judge see things differently. PAOK lawyers stuck to their original points. PAOK asked that a decision be made as soon as possible, but the judge could not promise that.

I think AEK will come and press high and with quick forwards in Livaja and Araujo could give our defense some problems. I think Shakhov is too slow to keep up with that pace. I'd prefer Canas in his place to contain them. Mauricio will more helpful on offense.

BTW live on PAOK TV for 3.99 Euro. Speaking of PAOK TV they announced that they will decide on what to do with the PAOK - Olympiakos game that people bought after all the legal options concerning the game are exhausted.

The two upcoming friendlies will be televised in Greece on Epsilon TV. Also the Nations League as well as 2020 Euro qualifiers by the Greek national team will be televised by COSMOTE Sports in Greece. The games will also be televised by OTA (over the air) channel in Greece, which most likely will be Epsilon TV as well.

Forgetting all the legal distractions, the team needs to focus on the game on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what Lucescu comes up with. I think he needs to keep Shakhov on the bench for this one and start Canas. That's something he should have done in the Tripoli games as well. I also think he should start Vierinha as left mid instead of Mak. With that in mind here is my lineup: ---------------- Paschalakis ----------------- Matos - Varela - Crespo - Azevedo ------ Mauricio ------------ Canas -------- Campos ----- Pelkas ------- Vierinha ------------------- Prijovic ------------------- Perhaps starting Biseswar could be an option, but he might keep him for the 2nd half to come in and give the team a boost.

There is something called ΔΙΑΙΤΗΤΙΚΟ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟΥ Ε.Π.Ο which is the last step in the appeal process. I think it's a last ditch effort to prove the the two previous hearings had some real flaws. Usually they just rubber stamp the EPO appeal (2nd stage) decision.

No, it's not the same court room or judges. The appeal is heard by the EPO court and judges. The original trial was by the Superleague Disciplinary Committee. I believe there is an additional appeal that can be filed, and I am pretty sure PAOK or Olympiakos will take it to that point depending on the outcome of the current appeal.

What's the point? Are you kidding me? Did you see the television broadcast of the game? Apparently not. Toumba was a church on that day. And what was the result? Pretty much the loss of a title. Security at Toumba has improved greatly from previous years, thanks to the use of private security, since Greek police is useless. Sure things are not perfect, but compared to the past the difference is day and night. As for your claim that AEK fans are angels, there were fan trouble at couple AEK games this season, but nothing happened to the team because the ref failed to include that in the match report. Also, I am not sure those angels would react the same way if there was a similar injustice carried against their team.

Well Klaus it's exactly this type of mentality and the selective enforcement of the rules that has driven the Greek football and the country in general to this sad state.

I too think our lawyers did not do very good job. They were caught off guard with the introduction of the changed match report by Aretopoulos, which happened when the court proceeding started and they did not have enough time to respond. They asked for a trial postponement but the judge denied it. The appeal is taking place tomorrow, but I don't think there will be a verdict right away. I think it will take days before they announce it. Don't forget on the same day the Olympiakos appeal (which was twice postponed) takes place concerning their -3 point deduction case.

First of all he was not hit in the head or face. Paper stream hit his back as shown on video. How can a doctor diagnose an injury. Well denying the match doctor for 15 minutes to see the "injured" surely prevents him from properly diagnosing his injuries. And since he was eventually seen wearing a neck brace and claiming serious injuries, it sure was major negligence by Olympiakos officials to deny him prompt and professional medical help.