The Rebirth Of PAOK
It is the sleeping giant of Greek football and the symbol of a rich and complex history of the people of both Greece and Asia Minor. PAOK Thessaloniki is much more than a football club; it is an ideal. It is perhaps the one club capable of breaking the Athenian dominance of Greek domestic football - as it has done before - and for that reason, if any, it is a club whose success is fundamental to the existence of football in Greece.
Once upon a time, the dream of an ‘outsider’ truly challenging the perpetual monopolisation of the ‘big three’ – AEK, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos – seemed within reach. A fanatical fan-base, the capacity to attract and produce some of the finest players and a home that was the equivalent to a concrete version of hell. At PAOK’s height, the Toumba Stadium was one of the most feared venues in both domestic and European football. Europe’s football aristocracy had traditionally struggled in Thessaloniki and not so long ago, it was virtually impossible for even the Athens clubs to come away from the north with a positive result.
The fall of PAOK has been an ungracious one, which probably had less to do with happenings on the football pitch than problems of it. Hooliganism was arguably the catalyst for PAOK’s decline at the beginning of the 1990s, impacting particularly on board-room stability, with the problem eventually manifesting itself in the form of financial insecurity and the inevitable impact on the football itself. Like a wounded animal, the club occasionally struck out at its hated Athenian rivals but nothing substantial or consistent enough to destabilize their dominance, particularly that of Olympiakos.
However, the arrival of club favourite and Euro 2004 winning captain Theodoros Zagorakis may just have heralded a new era for the Dikefalos tou Vorra (Double-Headed Eagle of the North). Former player Zagorakis has now stepped in as the club’s administrative leader, delivering an element of stability to a club crippled by financial burden. Perhaps Zaograkis’ greatest contribution has been on the pitch, where the appointment of fellow Euro 2004 and PAOK team-mate Zisis Vryzas as technical director has coincided with a shrewd and highly successful summer recruitment drive.
This on-pitch resurgence began with the appointment of former Benfica manager Fernando Santos last season. Whilst the Athenian clubs, particularly Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, have opted for coaches of a more illustrious reputation and pedigree, Zagorakis has made one of the most sensible coaching appointments in the recent history of Greek football. What makes Santos so perfect for PAOK is that he performed miracles when faced with a similar situation at a chaotic AEK only a few years ago – Champions League qualification followed.
Is qualification for Europe’s premier domestic competition a realistic possibility for Santos and co this season? Probably not, given Greece’s relatively low co-efficient ranking and the resulting limit to the amount of clubs allowed to enter into the Champions League – they would realistically need to come at least 2nd to have any chance of qualifying, highly unlikely given the grandiose summer recruitment of the Athenians.
To put the magnitude of the task facing Zagorakis into perspective, the breaking of the capital city’s football dominance by the Thessaloniki outfit is equivalent to the attempts of Tottenham to disrupt the stranglehold of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United on the top four positions on the English Premier League ladder. If PAOK were to make such an ambitious attempt – and if it were to fail – the club might spiral into an unrecoverable financial position.
Realistically, qualification for the UEFA Cup and the establishment of PAOK as Thessaloniki’s powerhouse club once again, should be the target. This would involve asserting dominance over local rivals Aris – who themselves have enjoyed success in recent times – and overcoming the likes of Panionios and Larissa for the mantle of the best team in Greece outside of the ‘big three’. Judging by the calibre and financial viability of player recruitment during this off-season, both of these tasks are realistic, at least by the end of next season. An initial return to Europe will perhaps have more symbolic than practical significance for PAOK – it will truly signal the revival of this former Greek powerhouse.
Complacency this season must be avoided at all costs however. Santos has a squad of undoubted quality and international pedigree – the likes of Zlatan Muslimovic, Pablo Garcia, Vladimir Ivic, Konstantinos Chalkias, Vasilis Lakis, Sergio Conceicao, Ibrahima Bakayoko and Pablo Contreras should form the back-bone of what is expected to be a competitive side. Perhaps one of the most important short-term tasks for Santos will be transform the Toumba into the football fortress that it once was. The image of PAOK fans packing away banners out of disgust during their side’s 4-0 humiliation at the hands of AEK Athens last season is not the manner in which the club can afford to depict itself again. It gives this season’s second-round meeting with the Dikefalos Aetos added significance.
What PAOK now have – for the first time in a long time – is a trio of football-savvy, modern and youthful leaders at the helm of the club. And whilst the financial recovery of PAOK is most likely a long-term process which requires the most delicate treatment by Zagorakis, for the time being, the reprieve offered by a football renaissance in the north should ease the transition of the club into a new era.
