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PAE PAOK General News (2016-2017)


Dutch Eagle

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  • 3 weeks later...

The situation seems bizarre.  Hopefully we get some sort of clarification.  Ironically, Tzavellas was actually MVP not long ago.  I see one of two possibilites.

Ivic is bang on and has knows for a while now that Tzavellas is more trouble than he's worth, but couldn't find the right time to give him the boot.  To be fair, overall, Tzavellas has been playing quite well the last 12 months or so.  The other possibility is that Ivic has just lost the plot entirely and is grasping at straws.  We shall see.

The other thing of note is that Ivic mentioned that they were multiple players, not just one, so again, it makes the situation confusing from our perspective.

Edited by Bananas
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I don't know...Ivic doesn't seem like the type to make foolish accusations to avoid being held accountable.  

 

Reaper, Tzavellas reminds me of the very typical Greek I ran into when I lived there as an "Amerikanaki".  A smug prick looking to screw someone over.  He's been playing well...but there is way too much talk about this guy for it to be just paranoia.

 

It's been a long time assumption that Tzavella is the leak in the locker room that feed certain media people "stories". 

Edited by BostonThanatos
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It's real easy for someone like Tzavellas to get a group of people together that he can use to play these kinds of games. Plenty of the younger (Greek) players likely look up to him, and he only has to keep an eye out for who might be on the outs (Klaus? Charisis? Mistakidis?). This is all just supposition, but I can see it.

Time for some hard choices by Savvidis. Personally, I'd be willing to dump half of our best players if it meant the remainder played for Ivic, as a team. The winter transfer window will be open very soon, depth isn't going become an issue prior to that.

 

Also, it looks like Michel is already talking to possible new coaches. Whether this is a backup plan or something he's going to move forward with, I don't know. Tzavellas practicing with the youth team implies Ivic survived last night's meeting, but this can change immediately (and for Tzavellas, this exact thing happened with Anastasiadis).

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I can only assume that when the club extended Tzavellas contract recently that either Ivic didn't want to rock the boat or he had no say in it.  Either way, foolish decision to extend his contract at the time.  If we get a CB during the transfer window then that'll be it for Tzavellas.

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This is assuming players do leave. Assuming Tzavellas is the leader of some group that's trying to oust the coach, he'd likely rather sit on his contract and take the bet that Ivic won't be around two months later anyway. If that happens, to truly get rid of him PAOK would have to pay out the remainder of his (and anyone else's who sides with him) contract, which would be very expensive.

Personally, I think we'd be fine if we lost a good chunk of our guys. A stripped-down PAOK entering into the transfer window will be able to make some moves, and I have faith that in a league as garbage as the SL, we'd still be able to make it to the playoffs.

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Rodrigues is the best player in the team by a long shot.  If Rodrigues keeps playing as he is, he'll be gone in the summer.  The best we can do is to offer him a contract extension, a nice wage increase (he deserves it) and a decent minimum sell amount in the contract.  I don't think we can replace him easily.

Tzavellas I can't see finding a better club with the same amount of money, so I agree with pash that he'll probably bide his time being the rat that he is.  It's unfortunate because he's improved his game 100% in the last 12 months but it's for the best if he goes.  Regardless, we have Varela and Crespo now who are both just as good if not better than him anyway.

For myself, the young greek boys have been disappointing.  Kitsiou, Korovesis, Charisis, Pelkas, Mystakidis.  Instead of really applying pressure for a 1st team spot they seem either unable or content to just be used as rotation players.  Keep this up and they will be replace eventually.  I don't include Koulouris in this group (yet) as he's really only been at the club this season.

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Tzavellas has been a troublemaker ever since he came to PAOK. He had run ins with past coaches (Anastasiadis), players (Pereyra). He has been quiet this season and was plying fairly well, but that was before his new contract. Let's not forget he is also a best buddy with owners son.It's probably Georgios Savvidis that convinced his father to extend his contract recently. Once he got his new contract in hand, he probably figured out he has the upper hand and started creating problems in the dressing room. Ivic said "things" have been going on for the past month. Guess when he signed his new contract?

ivic also said that he changed his mind about starters in yesterday's game at the last minute. My take is that he was pressed by Savvidis Junior to start Tzavellas, since I believe he was planning on using Crespo in the game according to press reports.

Incidently, his agent has had a big involvement with PAOK for a long time thanks to Zagorakis. He might play a role in this turmoil as well. He might be pissed at Ivic for sidelining one of his players (Tziolis). Keep an eye on Pelkas and Koulouris as well, as they have the same agent.

I thinkTzavellas will sit this out until Ivic is gone. Just like he did with Anastasiadis. Unless Ivic has a spectacular run in the next month or two, I see him out by end of February.

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5 hours ago, Bananas said:

Kace is finished with his loan and will return to the team.  He will be allowed to train with the team from December the 8th, assuming they want him of course.

So Kace could not cut it at the loan club?

The same Kace that was rumored to be  worth millions and chased by Serie A ?

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Who knows if the rumours were real or not.  If they were, the club should have sold when they could.  No idea if he will fit into the club now or if he's even good enough.  Obviously the club didn't think so at the start of the season.  At best he'd be 4th pick in the midfield behind Canas, Cimirot and Shakhov.

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Ivic was instrumental in Tzavellas getting a contract extension before the season ... None of the comments attributed to Tzavellas justified the extreme nature of the response. I've been listening to Greek radio all morning and I think everyone feels like there must be more .. Sadly, as much as I like Ivic, I think this was a terrible overreaction to an emotional game. You just character assassinated your team captain, the most consistent player for the last two years, oh and the starting LB on the Greek NT. Now what? 

How we handle players has always been a sore spot for me ... Salpi is persona non-grata for little or no reason, Hatzisaias was basically put on ice after being hailed as a revelation (not even a loan for the guy - just purgatory and stunting his growth!), we f-ed Pereyra last year ... the list goes on and on. It's no wonder Christodoulopouos said years ago he would retire before he would play for PAOK again. 

The handling of the situation makes us look small and provincial. Good luck luring elite players here in the future when you can f--k your captain with little or no compunction. 

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4 hours ago, teke817 said:

Ivic was instrumental in Tzavellas getting a contract extension before the season ... None of the comments attributed to Tzavellas justified the extreme nature of the response.

I really doubt that Ivic was instrumental in getting him the extension. He probably did not have any choice in the matter. I think it was Savvidis Jr. that pushed that through. There is no doubt in my mind about that. He was just taking care of his close drinking buddy.

Tzavellas is not an angel. He has a history of problems, not only at PAOK, but elsewhere as well. He is a decent player, but also a big primadona. I really believe that there is a clique of national team players on the team that have their own agenda. I think there is a lot of behind the scenes issues that we don't know about.

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