The PAO fans love hate relationship with Alafouzos

The PAO fans love hate relationship with Alafouzos

By George

Okay maybe its not a love relationship at all as if you go through social media, he is universally disliked by a large majority of PAO fans but is it all justified?

We can all laugh at the old photo of him being linked with Olympiakos and hear fans of the club say they adamantly think he is out there to simply ruin the club but is that true? I don't think so. 

Yes he comes from family money but he is a shrewd business man in his own right and a wealthy one at that and from what I know with wealthy people is they have huge egos and don't like being wrong. 

Over a good while though Alafouzos trusted many people in football and they screwed him and the club of millions and millions. Id say that's pissed him off.. and rightly so. 

So he had his strop, pissed off a lot of people and said he wanted out, but by then no buyers were willing to buy a club in debt so he took the steps of doing things on a tight budget and brining down the debt. Pissing people off became an artform in the process.

But, the debt according to many articles pre corona virus went down and is on track to be eliminated. And the at the time, the appointment of Donis was one that allowed a club legend to work at a club he loves, fully knowing the restrictions in place. It was a win win for all and gave Alafouzos breathing space.

He took it and so far has done an amazing job in cutting out the fat, brining in young Greek talented players and propelling the team up the ladder.

Which makes todays news that Alafouzos wants him gone a bit odd.... or does it?

The new TD at the club Xavi Roca has his own ideas, and his player recruitment so far, according to fans has been good. And like with any TD at any club in the world, he will always want his own people there working with him.

A few months ago the rumblings started with rumours that Roca did not rate Donis but they went away... only for them to pop up spectacularly today with news that Alafouzos sent his chauffeur to deliver a personally hand written letter to Donis asking him to step down from the club.

Power play at its best from a man that has been burnt from football and doesn't care what people think. 

He wants to save the reported 450K payout by asking Donis walk away as opposed to Donis getting a payout and putting the debt back on to the club itself. 

But if you look past that, I think its Roca who doesn't rate him and Alafouzos is taking the heat. It seems he's supporting his TD but doing things his onw way when it comes to the finances.

PAO fans will argue that he's the right man for the job and he deserves to see out his contract but I don't think many PAO fans will settle for Cup runs and 4th or 5th finishes on the table. The club is bigger than that.

Put simply, Giorgios Donis has reached his level and the club cannot go further.

From the outside in, you can possibly think this is a huge show of faith from Alafouzos to Roca, as he only needs to open up that wallet and overnight PAO will be instant title contenders,

Trust the process? Its football so there's never any guarantees anyways.

As an Olympiakos fan... I want to see them succeed. (but not too much)

Hellas Football

Follow @olygeorge_

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