Welcome back, we are on the brink, I need money and fast, the board have paid out €1m twice this season to try and help with the financial situation and it’s getting worse.
We had a takeover bid but it was just a change of board members. Hopefully we have a better season and some of our players get some interest.
Pre-season
6 games 28 goals scored 3 conceded plenty of squad rotation a perfect pre-season again.
September
We started off the season with a 2-0 win over Ionikos, Karlsson grabbing a double. Then an early season shock we beat Panathinaikos 1-0 away with Karlsson grabbed a goal after 1 minute and we held on until the final whistle. A 1-1 draw with OFI and Ioannidis grabbed his first for the club. We rounded the month off with a 3-0 win over Volos, Karlsson taking his tally up to 5 in 4 games and Halimi grabbed his first. A great start to the season 10 points from 12 and played two of last seasons top 6.
October
That sound you heard was us falling back down to earth. A 1-0 loss to AEK isn’t the end of the world but getting knocked out of the cup by a lower league team was. We then lost to Olympiakos 4-2, Halimi and Karlsson on the scoresheet again. We bounced back with a 2-1 win vs Aris with another Karlsson goal (7 for the season) and Ioanndis helped us grab the win. Overall we have played 5 of the top 6 in the first 7 games and have 13 points from 21 points. Not a bad start.
November
A perfect month for us, we started with a 6-1 win over Xanthi with a Karlsson hat trick(10), Halimi double and youngster Obregon getting his first for the season. We followed that up with a 2-1 win over Levadeiakos thanks to an Ioannidis double before he scored again in the 1-0 win over Asteras Tripolis to take his tally to 5 for the season.
December
Panetolikos stopped our run of wins by beating us 3-2 Karlsson (11) and Ioannidis (6) were both on the scoresheet. We bounced back by beating Apollon Smyrnis 2-0 with Karlsson at the double again(13). We followed that up by beating last years champions 4-3, goals from youngsters Obregon and Benitez got us up and running before Ioannidis (7) and Karlsson (14) made sure of the win. Ionikos were no match for us as we brushed them aside in a 2-0 win with Benitez again on the scoresheet and Halimi making sure of the win. Panathinaikos then beat us 3-1 young left back Kainourgios getting his first for the club.
January
OFI were beaten thanks to a late goal from Gentzoglou, we then drew with Volos luckily Obregon saved us a point with the clock ticking down. Next up were two crazy matches, first a 5-4 loss to AEK where Halimi and Obregon but getting a double. Olympiakos then destroyed us 6-2 with Ioannidis (8) and Obregon(7) scoring.
We bounced back by beating Aris 3-1, Ioannidis took his tally up to 10 and Mitoglou scored his first.
We made no moves this winter in the transfer window.
February
A 2-1 win vs Xanthi with goals from Ioannidis(11) and Bakic, Levadeiakos held us to a 1-1 draw but Karlsson got on the scoresheet again for his 15th of the season. We then beat Asteras Tripolis 1-0 with another Karlsson goal (16).
Panetolikos then beat us 3-0 at home.
March
A 3-0 win over Apollon Smyrnis with goal from Ioanidis (12) and a Karlsson double (18) ensured we qualifed for the top 6 and Super League Championship group for the first time, A 2-0 loss to PAOK meant they overtook us to finish second and we slipped to 4th. The first ever championship group game ended in a 3-1 loss to OFI with Obregon(8) scoring the only goal, We then ended the month with a 1-0 loss to Aris.
April
So, the Championship group is a bit hard! back to back 3-0 losses to Olympiakos and Panathinaikos was followed up by a 1-1 draw with PAOK thanks to a late Halimi goal. OFI then beat us 3-0 before Aris put us to the sword beating us 2-0.
May
Olympiakos beat us 4-1 and Obregon grabbed his 9th of the season a great season for the youngster. Panathinaikos then beat us 5-1 and Ioannidis got his 13th of the season. We rounded of the season with a 1-1 draw with PAOK with Briek getting on the scoresheet.
As you can see just two points weren’t enough and we missed out on Europe by 10 points. The next season 5th will be a European spot so hopefully we can take that one more step.
AEK won the relegation group, to make up for missing out on top 6 but I imagine they will try and bounce back next season.
A record high finish for us, after 3 7th placed finishes we finally made it to 6th.
The future is bright it seems, Our Under 19’s won the league there is a few that will be moved up to the first team next season, just because of our money situation we will probably have to make a few cuts to the first team squad and fill the gaps with youngsters.
Awards
Third place in the Manager of the year awards.
Ioannidis finished with 13 goals and came runner up in the best transfers of the season.
Somehow he also won best greek player of the year.
Overall a decent season for Ioannidis and Kingsley but the star is Obregon and on that note we move onto the transfers with breaking news…
Transfers
€7.5m with a potential to increase to €8.75m and a loan back, the €7.5m is payable over 4 years so we won’t see a massive increase in the balance but at least we have a sizeable fee for our club coming in each year which will take some of the pressure off.
Massolo comes in as our new first choice goal keeper, an upgrade which was needed. Phiri comes in as a youngster we have high hopes for to develop and hopefully sell on for a decent fee. Katsis is a decent Greek prospect who will help our Under 19s short term then long term hopefully the first team, Boeckh I tried to sign as Obregon’s long term replacement but I could only get him on loan with an option to buy next summer. Brkljaca I have been chasing for two years now, again I could only get him on loan with a fee, I’m looking at changing formations this upcoming season so he will give us flexibility to do that.
Conclusion
This season was a step in the right direction but again we missed out on Europe, the gap is still quite big between us on and off the pitch. This summer the top 6 team (including AEK) have spent €73m in total.
But I do feel we are getting closer and that 4th place finish (which should have been 2nd) in the opening stage showed that, we just need to improve the championship next season if we make it again next season. Thank you for reading and we will be back again next week with another update.
