Giannakopoulos on Diamantidis-Alvertis: 'I handed them the team's keys and they delivered a patchwork' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Panagiotis Moschandreou/GettyImages Credit Panagiotis Moschandreou/GettyImages

As Panathinaikos OPAP Athens' organization is trying to get over the shocking and sweeping changes that the club is undergoing following the defeat by Olympiacos Piraeus in the Greek derby, Dimitris Giannakopoulos added more fuel to the fire.

Fragiskos Alvertis

Position:SF, SGAge:48Height:206 cmWeight:102 kgBirth place:Glyfada, GreeceProfileNewsStatistics

The Greens' owner came forward with an Instagram story a few minutes after the club's official announcement, according to which coach Dimitris Priftis, EuroLeague legend Dimitris Diamantidis (GM), Nikos Pappas (technical director) and the previous president, Panagiotis Triantopoulos, are being removed from their duties.

In his post, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who said in 2020 that the club is for sale, essentially accuses Diamantidis, former GM Fragiskos Alvertis and Triantopoulos of poor management.

He calls the current roster "a patchwork with 8 foreign players" and points out that he had to make those changes in order for PAO to stand a chance of competing for the Greek League title. He also underlines that this year has already cost him 3 million euros, as a result of bad decisions.

Here's what Giannakopoulos wrote:

"I came out clearly and said that the club is for sale and no offer from any 'rich and famous' Panathinaikos fan has arrived. Just some funds.

I gave the keys to the team to those who if a referendum would have taken place asking fans "who do you want to run Panathinaikos?", they would have gotten 101% of the votes.

And they, instead of setting up a basketball project for the present and the future, are delivering a patchwork with 8 foreign players, at a time when due to circumstances the goal is not Europe, but to build something healthy.

Projecting an image that is not in line with the size of Panathinaikos, and for months now there has been no improvement. They obsessively support the choices that have clearly not worked.

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You've given the management of the finances to your closest partner with a clear order to balance income and expenses and he forces you to put three million due to mistaken decisions. In a season when you are being disgraced on the court by teams with much lower budgets in Europe and you're struggling to beat the 'small' teams in Greece.

So, for anyone who does not know it, this year has already cost me 3 million euros!

And after that, instead of leaving those entirely responsible to bear the consequences until the end, you take them on yourself hoping for a possible change in view of the (Greek League) finals, but most of all in order to build the next year properly.

And now, you have people putting the blame on you."

According to various reports of Gazzetta, Sport24, and SDNA,Georgios Vovorasis mentioned as the top candidate to replace Priftis.

Argyris Pedoulakis was appointed as a new technical director to select the next head coach for Panathinaikos.

Panathinaikos rebuild ideas:

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