By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos OPAP owner Dimitrios Giannakopoulos was critical of the current situation and talked about how he hopes to improve fortunes for the Greens in a post shared on Instagram.
“Everyone can fail, once or twice, the same goes for the almighty of basketball. But this season was unacceptable.
Until a serious and genuine interest in the shares of Panathinaikos surfaces, we are not allowed such poor showings, strange to our club.
Many mistakes were made, even though at first they looked appropriate.
We are all at fault, each of us from his own position.
Everything now belongs to the past.
The EuroLeague is changing, and the current administration is on its way to the exit, with any possible impact on Panathinaikos and most importantly for European basketball in general.
We are waiting to confirm leasing OAKA and it will become our home for the next 49 years.
On our squad, we must rebuild almost from scratch and we will.
In Greek basketball, we will restore the usual conditions. Everyone can be sure of that.
The best has yet to come.”
Giannakopoulos, 47, announced his intention to sell Panathinaikos a couple of years ago. Greats Dimitris Diamantidis and Fragiskos Alvertis took over as co-general managers but were dismissed last April. Also, Giorgos Vovoras returned to the head coaching position replacing Dimitris Priftis.
In 2021-22, the Greens were held to 13th place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings and also lost to rival Olympiacos in the Finals of both the Stoiximan Basket League Playoffs and Greek Cup.