By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Zeljko Obradovic met with reporters for the first time since his civilized divorce with Panathinaikos and he confirmed that he will not sit in any bench next season.
Zoc was laconic in his answer about his future – “Next season I will rest” – and for one more time fans of Panathinaikos were waiting for him in order to cheer for him and shake his hand. After that his longtime assistant Dimitris Itoudis elaborated on some details: “I don’t know yet if I will be in the bench of a team next season. Our first choice before 15-20 days was to continue at Panathinaikos. It was an effort without fruition, but that doesn’t mean anything about the 13 years run that we had. The fact of me and Zeljko staying in the team so long means that there were some stable foundation, a good relationship with the owners and we would like to thank them for that. Also the fans loved us and we repaid them with cups and titles. It’s a combination of things. Maybe some day in the future we will be together again at Panathaikos, or somewhere else. Nobody knows what the future holds for him”.
The two coaches and longtime friends are together this weekend at Salonika, where they are speakers in the annual Greek coaches association clinic, named after legendary Greek player and coach Faidon Mathaiou.