Serra Ferrer

[TheCity1924]

aek66

do you really think that the players went to Demi, complained, and he fired Ferrer. I'm sure the complaints were long in the making and were only the cherry on top of this meltdown.

And as a former player himself he knows exactly what happens in the lockeroom between players and a coach. There has to have been a severe breakdown of trust on many front, management, ownership and players.

[TheCity1924]

I just dont see how a Demi would put himself in such a difficult situation economically on the grounds that a few players complained.

Also, from what i remember, the board had discussed the issue of losing faith in Ferrer and that he had lost control of the lockeroom about a month ago.

[Kolokotronis]

My take on the Ferrer firing.

AEK brought in Ferrer two years ago with a long term plan in mind and made him GM as well a year later in order to better achieve that end. My opinion is that this plan was of necessity as AEK didn't have the funds to compete with OSFP and PAO on even, or even somewhat even, terms.That mindset was apparent with some of AEK's signings two years ago-Kone, Hetemaj, Toszer, Lagos, etc... and the elevation of some youngsters to first team duty (Papastathopoulos, Pliatsikas, etc..). And said philsoophy manifested itself well last year on the pitch as Ferrer put blind faith in the kids and they produced an attractive and exciting brand of football. Whether that blind faith was of necessity or by choice is irrelevant.

This offseason however saw a detour in the grand plan, necessitated by the departure of Rivaldo from OSFP. The AEK board saw a rare marketing opportunity to sign Rivaldo (on a free) and took it, putting the long term grand plan on the back burner. Now since marketing plans aren't exactly the bill of goods management can sell to its fan base, the grand FOUR YEAR plan with Ferrer became a "we're going to win the protathlima THIS year" mantra. The board obviously couldn't tell the fans "we brought in Rivaldo to sell shirts and fill our coffers", so they took a detour and said we're winning NOW, the ONLY way they could explain this signing. So Ferrer is forced to veer left (from the original plan) in midstream and build a championship caliber team accomodating BOTH the strengths and weaknesses of an aging Rivaldo. Problem is, AEK didn't have the resources to put together a championship winning team around Rivaldo. Nor was Rivaldo good enough at this stage of his career to win a championship with the supporting cast he found at AEK. This started becoming painfully apparent around the half season mark.

So when the bad results came, something had to give. Demi kept proclaiming we're going to win the championship, undoubtedly to deflect attention from himself and the boards inability to bring in enough quality transfers and justify the Rivaldo signing. Ferrer saw this and threw the ball back in Demis court, saying I don't have the roster to win. Which in the end was a recipe for disaster. Ferrer saw the pressure to win now and the lack of monetary support from the board. He was asked to do the impossible so that the board could justify its marketing adventure with Ribo. Naturally, Ferrer became upset and in turn alienated the fans and some players. He very well couldn't turn around and directly point the finger at the board as it would probably ruin whatever chances he had to get hired at another club. So he took his subtle shots at the board, at Demis, and vented some of that frustration on the players. They in turn turned on Ferrer. Led by the veterans who are currently on their last playing legs. The veterans who had enough of an influence in the clubhouse to turn the team against Ferrer. The veterans who had the means within the press corps to achieve their desired result.

End result-you have a core group of veterans with a remaining shelf life of six months to a year that sabotaged and undermined a LONG TERM coach brought in on a FOUR YEAR PLAN.

Brilliant planning I say by Demi & Co. :tdown:

[AEKARA-YIA-PANTA]

Sure the budget is an issue......but so were many of the tactical decisions made by Ferrer...game after game. That's why he got the boot

[Kolokotronis]

Which tactical decisions?

This is where its going to get interesting.

[Kolokotronis]

My take on the Ferrer firing.

AEK brought in Ferrer two years ago with a long term plan in mind and made him GM as well a year later in order to better achieve that end. My opinion is that this plan was of necessity as AEK didn't have the funds to compete with OSFP and PAO on even, or even somewhat even, terms.That mindset was apparent with some of AEK's signings two years ago-Kone, Hetemaj, Toszer, Lagos, etc... and the elevation of some youngsters to first team duty (Papastathopoulos, Pliatsikas, etc..). And said philsoophy manifested itself well last year on the pitch as Ferrer put blind faith in the kids and they produced an attractive and exciting brand of football. Whether that blind faith was of necessity or by choice is irrelevant.

This offseason however saw a detour in the grand plan, necessitated by the departure of Rivaldo from OSFP. The AEK board saw a rare marketing opportunity to sign Rivaldo (on a free) and took it, putting the long term grand plan on the back burner. Now since marketing plans aren't exactly the bill of goods management can sell to its fan base, the grand FOUR YEAR plan with Ferrer became a "we're going to win the protathlima THIS year" mantra. The board obviously couldn't tell the fans "we brought in Rivaldo to sell shirts and fill our coffers", so they took a detour and said we're winning NOW, the ONLY way they could explain this signing. So Ferrer is forced to veer left (from the original plan) in midstream and build a championship caliber team accomodating BOTH the strengths and weaknesses of an aging Rivaldo. Problem is, AEK didn't have the resources to put together a championship winning team around Rivaldo. Nor was Rivaldo good enough at this stage of his career to win a championship with the supporting cast he found at AEK. This started becoming painfully apparent around the half season mark.

So when the bad results came, something had to give. Demi kept proclaiming we're going to win the championship, undoubtedly to deflect attention from himself and the boards inability to bring in enough quality transfers and justify the Rivaldo signing. Ferrer saw this and threw the ball back in Demis court, saying I don't have the roster to win. Which in the end was a recipe for disaster. Ferrer saw the pressure to win now and the lack of monetary support from the board. He was asked to do the impossible so that the board could justify its marketing adventure with Ribo. Naturally, Ferrer became upset and in turn alienated the fans and some players. He very well couldn't turn around and directly point the finger at the board as it would probably ruin whatever chances he had to get hired at another club. So he took his subtle shots at the board, at Demis, and vented some of that frustration on the players. They in turn turned on Ferrer. Led by the veterans who are currently on their last playing legs. The veterans who had enough of an influence in the clubhouse to turn the team against Ferrer. The veterans who had the means within the press corps to achieve their desired result.

End result-you have a core group of veterans with a remaining shelf life of six months to a year that sabotaged and undermined a LONG TERM coach brought in on a FOUR YEAR PLAN.

Brilliant planning I say by Demi & Co. :tdown:

good analysis, it was obvious the rivaldo was a signing '

[Genome]

[george21]

[aekrossoponti]

i just returned from greece and after reading all the posts want to put in my five cents to the ferrer debate.

i am with aek66 in most regards but want to point out a couple of things.

1. the academy/youth scheme aek runs (?) is not ferrers idea nor is he in any way connected to it. the ONLY relation to ferrer is that he gave some of the youngsters good playing time especially last season.

2. the aek 5-years plan dates back to 2004 were the team was a ruin. ferrer was to continue the plan started in the 04/05 season were we nearly got ahead of ourselves.

3. ivic was aeks "technical director" until he left at the end of last season. apparently due to differences with ferrer. after that demis installed ferrer as "technical director" and coach trying to mirror arsene wengers position at arsenal. this means ferrer was the main man in charge of the transfers, contracts, etc. yet, demis, the board and others probably do have a say in the transfers.

4. the budget discussion is as old as is pro-football. of course, aek doesnt have and maybe never will have the financial power of the other two top clubs. but then again werder and stuttgart dont have the financial power bayern munich have and had their share of success in recent years. so i personally dont like this discussion. if you sign with aek you know you wont have premier league funds at your disposal. still, ferrer was the best paid coach in greece.

5. the signing of arruabarrena was superb for the greek league. that he turned out not to perform the expected is not ferrers fault. rivaldo was a signing the board wanted but ferrer in a recent marca interview said his only signing was rivaldo. so apparently he wanted rivaldo.

6. lets not forget, ferrer had severe problems with the management at every other club he was.

in greece i heard that there was unhappiness at aek with the way ferrer went about his transfers. it seems he only did business with a managers he knew form spain, etc. and apparently his son has some connection to the edinho transfer. not sure though. in any case, this sounds similar to rehagel at kaiserlautern where he was sacked for similar reasons.

i don t know much of the internal workings of the club. it seems to me something must have happened in the course of the last two weeks that made demis resort to this measure. i mean demis extended ferrers deal before the season with no apparent need to do so. and backed ferrer just days ago after the panionios loss.

this whole season though ferrer has basically annoyed me. not so much with his work but with his antics oin the side lines, his constant ref-bashing and constant referalls to the budget. given that, i was happy he was cut. seeing that he never said farewell to the team which most coaches that are sacked do shows there seems to be some problem. at the end of the day we dont need the most expensive coach in greece to come in third in the league.

[Kolokotronis]

who kostenoglou and who kesbagia?

I like the idea of firing ferrer, but the timming couldnt have been worse!!

You dont sack your coach the day before the biggest game of the season?

ketsbaiga was aek's georgevic in the mid 1990's. great shot, strong/hard to knock off the ball, endless energy - stamina...good dribbler, clever with the ball...very good player. was only at aek for some 3 seasons, i believe. i think ketsbaiga and tsartas played 2 seasons together, best offensive mid combo in greece at that time. we could have used him today against getafe instead of xwma ribo & palto lymbe. manages in cyprus now..i just looked up kestabaia's stats - 23 goals in 84 matches for timour. dimitriadis got a few tap-in goals from 'keepers not able to hold ketsbaia's rockets.

kostenoglou was a fill in centerback, slow, his height kept him in football. hung around for a paycheck...just like now.

paxiotis, you asked me about the dreaded shoehorn. how old are you?

actually, savevski was our tzole (LM). Savevski Tsiartas and Kestmpaia were the best 3 man attacking midfield combo to ever play for AEK.

Kostenoglou was a hack. Along with Stamatis and Kontis, my least favorite AEK fb. How he played so long with us is still a mystery to me.

[Kolokotronis]

anyways - did demi cut ferrer any breaks? what's odd is that if the players revolted (assuming veterans), some of those veterans won't be around next year and just about all of them gone by 2009.

let's say zikos, dellas and lymbe went to demi. if i was demi - i would have weighed my options. these players will soon be gone...should i try to placate them and then meet with ferrer, or, should i give in to these players...though by 2009, ferrer, dellas, zikos and lymbe will be long gone. now you have nothing. to give into the players, that isn't very sensible in my opinion. you've just given in to demands of players that aren't important to aek's future.

the aek of 2009 is much more important to the aek of 2011 than the aek of 2008 is important to the aek of 2011. oh well..

The absolute smartest thing I've read on ANY forum regarding the Ferrer sacking!

[Irlandos]

Btw, a wee explanation: I changed the title of this thread because "Ferrer" is NOT our former coach's surname!

In Spain and Spanish-speaking America, you are known by your Christian name, your father's surname, your mother's surname. Believe it or not...

[aekrossoponti]

that doesnt apply to the footballers though :P

[Kolokotronis]

I'd say the BOARD is a total mess. The side can be fixed quickly, in one or two summers. But if you don't have any direction, AEK will wander aimlessly about like a rudderless ship.

Typical Greek mentality.

[Irlandos]

...But if you don't have any direction, AEK will wander aimlessly about like a rudderless ship.

These words should be written on several