What Goes Up Must Come Down

What Goes Up Must Come Down 

By Antonios Theodosis 

 

After last year’s dismissal of club legend and fan favorite Giorgios Donis from the head coaching job of Panathinaikos, many fans were up in arms about how to feel about the situation. However things quickly progressed and it seemed as if the club was going in a new direction (for the sixth or seventh time in the last nine or so years), but it did seem promising at the very least with the appointment of Dani Poyatos, a coach from Real Madrid’s youth ranks. 

 

Poyatos alongside technical director Xavi Roca looked to bring in an entirely new model based around Spanish footballers and Spanish footballing philosophy. From the outside looking in it seemed like a solid plan. Needless to say, it set the expectations for the season to qualify for European football. 

 

The expectations were stunted early on though, as the first five or six games in charge saw Poyatos’ team struggling to find an identity. Players were played out of position and the team overall just looked disjointed and disconnected. It quickly led to Poyatos’ sacking along with Roca following right behind him. Panathinaikos were struggling, but it was still early in the season and the European goal was still alive.  

 

Following the departures, Panathinaikos appointed Romanian coach Laszlo Boloni to take charge and soon after his appointment came in a new technical director, Pierre D’reossi. Together the two looked to help quell the issues and inconsistencies plaguing Panathinaikos up to that point. 

 

At first it seemed like the appointment was a great choice as Boloni did an excellent job of establishing the team identity, which heavily emphasized playing as one defensive unit in a low block formation. This change brought in results, Panathinaikos under Boloni began to perform big in the derby matches against the other big clubs in Greece and all appeared to be going well. 

 

We also saw the introduction of young players into the squad who saw consistent game time such as Zagaritis who really flourished under the short stint he played under Boloni, along with other young players into the starting lineup such as Alexandropoulos and Kampetsis. 

 

It all looked as if Panathinaikos were finally heading in the direction we had all thought they should have been in from the start of the season. After the winter break our expectations were even exceeded at one point, with the team going on a nine game unbeaten streak and handing Olympiakos a convincing defeat at the Leoforos. Europe was seeming more and more likely as Panathinaikos started off 2021 in an almost unstoppable fashion. 

 

The old adage “don’t get too high on the high’s or too low on the low’s” comes into play perfectly here however, as after this streak Panathinaikos was brought back down to Earth and well and truly humbled. Heavy defeats against PAS Giannina followed, along with lackluster performances against Panaitolikos and Asteras Tripolis which truly capped off an underwhelming end to a season which truly mimicked a roller coaster ride. The playoffs were a huge disappointment which ultimately resulted in no European football next season and the sacking of Laszlo Boloni. 

 

With all of that summarized it truly is remarkable that all of this happened in just one season. Three coaches in one season, players in and out, a disgruntled fanbase, no European football, and a president who was a bit too naive in the people he trusted to move forward with such a project really is a lot to take in for one season. 

 

The season to put it bluntly was a failure. I had been one of the vocal fans who had asked what the reason was for letting go of Giorgos Donis. The whole idea behind that was to move onto higher ambitions and qualify for Europe as some had told me, yet Donis finished higher on the table last year with a team that was not as good as the one we have this season (which is not all that good either.) And he also deserved at least a third season to finally get his team into Europe, considering all that he done with what he had to work with up to that point. 

 

The failure this season really boils down to several different factors, but I think the biggest one is that Panathinaikos this season truly lacked an established culture in the way they operated things from a sporting perspective. The season started off with people in charge who had no experience in Greek football and the way it operates. Couple that with no fans in the stadium and it only made things worse. Leoforos, the fortress that it is, saw the club taste an historic defeat against Olympiakos, if fans were there I think we would not have seen such a heavy scorline. We also saw that the players brought in last season were not up to par, the previous technical director brought in players on free transfers from the second and third tiers and renewed players that truly should have been sold off. These factors all conglomerated into the disappointing season that we all witnessed. 

 

Going into next season things seem to be going a bit better than they were at this time last year at least. The president is now making decisions that highlight his realization of the mistakes made this past season. He is working to hire team managers, ex players who know about the club and how Greek football works. He has also brought in an experienced manager, one who has made a name for himself in both Greece and Cyprus, and finally he looks set to bring in higher quality players compared to the ones brought in on free transfers last season. 

 

All in all, this is a season that every Panathinaikos fan can agree on forgetting. Everything that could have gone wrong seemed to go wrong and it leads us back to square one yet again. Here is hoping that the new season won't be as bad as this one was.

Hellas Football 

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