Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 4

Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 4

Title Misses, Cup Highs and Relegation Lows

By Stephen Kountourou,
The 1970s saw one of the most successful periods for Panionios. They started the decade with a bang, in 1970/71, as they narrowly missed out on the first league title in their history after finishing second, five points behind AEK Athens. In an official league structure, this is the highest Panionios have ever finished a domestic season. They have unfortunately not come any closer to a league title since. They did however, qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history while also winning their first continental trophy in the Balkans Cup, a competition that represented clubs from the Balkan states, and over a two leg final, defeated Albanian side Besa Kavaje to win the competition. The very next season saw the side from Nea Smyrna cause one of the biggest upsets in their history, by defeating Spanish giants Atletico Madrid over two legs in the first round of the UEFA Cup, a massive achievement for a club making its debut in a UEFA competition. The second leg, unfortunately, was the furthest Panionios progressed as they slumped out of the Cup to Hungarian side Ferencvárosi.

After their early success in the first half of the decade they saw the start of a decline in league form as they went from their high of 2nd place in 1970/71 to the slow digression into mid table, as the big 4 in Greece continued to battle for the league title. But what Panionios found most successful in this period was the development of their players. Their academy gave birth to some of Greece's all time great players of the Alpha Ethniki era. Some of the country's greatest ever attacking talent became household names by playing for Panionios before moving to the bigger clubs in Greece. The likes of striker Thomas Mavros, Dimitris Saravakos and Nikos Anastopoulos, all legends of the Greek game, started life with Panionios and went on to play for the biggest clubs in the league. 

With the 1970s drawing to a close, Panionios would have their first relegation scare. The 1977/78 season saw them stay up by two points at the expense of Pierikos and Veria, after only winning eight games all season, the joint worst in the division. The next season Panionios, despite finishing 13th in the league only staying up by a point, would achieve their first Greek Cup, claiming a 3-1 victory over AEK Athens with most fans seeing this as revenge for losing out to the Athenian giants to the title eight years before. The huge Cup victory also qualified the club to the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. They started the Cup with big victory over Dutch side FC Twente, another memorable win for the fans of the Nea Smyrna side. Once again though, the second round was the furthest the club would progress as they were knocked out by IFK Goteborg.

With the 1980s came more struggles for Panionios. Their league form continued to be average at best with another relegation scare in 1982/83 as they only stayed up after a relegation playoff win against Makedonikos, keeping the side up in the first tier of Greek football. The next season the same story unfurled for the Panthers. Another Relegation playoff scrap against PAS Giannia saw Panionios come out on top to stay in the Alpha Ethniki. After this rocky start to the 1980s, the Kyanerythroi would begin to find their feet again, progressing to 7th, 6th and 4th place in consecutive seasons and qualifying for their 2nd UEFA Cup. Though they were quickly knocked out by french side Toulouse.

Panionios spent the rest of the decade resigned to mid table once more and for a while things seemed stable at the club. That was until the 1991/92 season where, after years in the first tier, close top half finishes and relegation battles, Panionios Greece's oldest football club were finally relegated for the first time in their history, going down on goal difference, a cruel demise of such a historic club. Hellas Football.

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