By Aris Barkas / barkas@eurohoops.net
Dimitris Giannakopoulos revealed his vision for Panathinaikos’ future, talking about a club that will resemble the administration of Spanish teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Giannakopoulos talked about elections within the board members, meaning members as owners, and a club with all sports sections united.
If his plan, which includes also the construction of a new football stadium, fails by next year, the backup solution for him is to pass on the administration to someone else.
“I will give away Panathinaikos’ shares, worthy of €25M. It’s an organization free of debt. If there is no interest [in his plan to change the club model] by July 1st, 2020, I will hand its management to a trustworthy person to run the club based on the revenues. I’m tired of fighting all alone. I will need support”, he explained.
Giannakopoulos also referred to Rick Pitino and the increase of the budget for next season with Argyris Pedoulakis in charge. “We have agreed on an extension with Mr. Pitino. Unfortunately, when he came back from the States he mentioned a few personal reasons that wouldn’t allow him to stay in Greece and that’s totally respected. This season, Pedoulakis will have the budget we initially planned to give to Pitino. It was a huge honor for us that Pitino was part of the club, we learned from him and thank him deeply. When Rick Pitino is your head coach, you have to wait on him. And we did. But family first. Even though this decision saddened me”, Giannakopoulos added.
Speaking about Olympiacos and the relegation to the second division, Giannakopoulos said: “Nobody who is serious can accept for his team to forfeit a game in halftime. They are terrorizing referees, they are embracing hooligans. Olympiacos left the court and broke the law in order not to get punished. I wish them the best of luck on the courts of the second division”.