Doukas: “Olympiacos has a phobic syndrome with PAOK”

One day after the war of announcements with Olympiakos on the occasion of the appointment of Kruzliak, PAOK PAOK’s communications officer, Lefteris Doukas, referred to it, leaving clear pitfalls to the red and whites but speaking of a… phobia that Piraeus now has towards the Two-Headed of the North .

“So he has learned to mark the deck and when he can’t mark it, to overturn the table to spoil the game”was his comment on yesterday’s announcements by Olympiakos, while he added about the style of PAOK’s responses…

“Only the humorous is appropriate. Olympiacos has a phobic syndrome with PAOK in recent years. And in Toumba, but as the story goes and in “G. Karaiskakis”. The only thing that changes is the scenario and the occasions“, he said.

Here are the detailed statements of Lefteris Doukas at City Primo:



On whether there are still tickets available for Sunday’s derby:



“Tickets are running out and I believe that by tomorrow the sold out will be formally announced. There are still a few available.”

On whether PAOK PAOK is considering taking some extra measures for the security of the match:



“In all games of this risk and importance there are always enhanced measures. I think we’ve tried it all. The classic, very strict, security measures. If there is anything else, it will be made public through an announcement.”

Regarding yesterday’s announcements by PAE Olympiacos, the fact that the whole situation refers to 2018 and in general that the Piraeus are once again raising the tone before a derby with PAOK:



“Then of course, in 2018, there were no playoffs and I dare to say that what Olympiacos has been trying to do since yesterday is quite similar to what it did in 2018. What it did before the game started, with Garthia. In a sense, what he puts out, the announcements, are the collar of 2023. Of course, the conditions are different now, but Olympiacos always tries to operate like this, it does not change tactics. This is how he has learned to mark the deck and when he cannot mark it, to overturn the table to spoil the game.”

On how, in his opinion, we arrived at yesterday’s announcements:



“You’d better ask a representative of Olympiakos, after all, he started it. Both teams, like all teams in matches of such importance, want an elite referee. Olympiacos first, with a leak, announced that they want an elite referee, on the grounds that PAOK did not want one, which of course is not the case. So the two teams agreed on a good referee coming from the top shelf. Indeed, this referee came, but on the way to Olympiakos they were annoyed because he is Slovak and connected him with Loubos Michel. If Olympiacos had a problem with a referee, they should have made it public before the definitions. If there was an appointment of a Romanian elite class referee, would Olympiacos accept him? Two weeks ago, we had the same story with Kulbakov, certainly not as strongly as Olympiacos is doing now. If you want to find a reason, you will. If the referee was German, would we say he was related to the Rebbe? If you want to find ways to prepare an escape, because Olympiacos escaped in 2018, you find it. Possibly even now he wants to do the same.”

For PAEK PAOK’s humorous response:



“We have no other way to deal with them. If you want to talk seriously with Olympiakos, there is no serious way. Only the humorous one is appropriate. Olympiacos has a phobic syndrome with PAOK in recent years. And in Toumba, but as the story goes and in “G. Karaiskakis”. The only thing that changes is the scenario and the occasions. If one takes a look back at the communication tactics of Olympiakos, before and after the games, it is easy to understand that it is something repeated. This is his tactic. And since Kruzliak was connected to an Olympiakos match in Kyiv, let me refer them to this year’s European games. After every match, without exception, the referee blamed them. Simply because in Europe he is not allowed to express himself with such vulgarity, he works with more introversion.”

Regarding the fact that the most serious refereeing errors in this year’s championship favored Olympiakos and whether this is the goal of Piraeus:



“I don’t rule it out. In general, however, we must admit that from the refereeing point of view, the league is constantly improving. There is no championship in the world without mistakes. Possibly there is also an influence from the communication tactics of each group, but the phenomenon cannot be completely eliminated. That was why both teams asked for an elite referee, as well as why foreign referees and VAR came in. Not to zero out the mistakes, but to stop referees from entering commissioned service. I don’t think there have been such in recent years, unlike the years before foreign referees, where one team would suddenly get all the whistles.”

On whether PAOK is satisfied with the conditions in this year’s championship and the refereeing:



“In general I dare say yes. There are individual phases where teams were wronged and favored, a reality that we cannot completely erase, just as we cannot take away the right of a coach who sees his players’ sweat being stolen, to come out and make it public.”

Regarding the position of the president of the EPO, Takis Baltakou, that there is no time to replace the PAOK-Olympiacos referee:



“I’d rather leave her alone, given that she’s in the middle of two warring fires. His position is difficult.”

Regarding PAOK’s position on the big problem of football financing from betting taxation and the fact that PAOK voted yes to the proposal of Vangelis Marinakis:



“Because this is what the PAEs were asking for. Let’s not forget that PAOK in these cases does not operate as PAOK, it operates as a cooperative. This is what the teams were asking for in the first place. Especially the so-called small groups, they have long been waiting for the money to survive. PAOK could not remain indifferent to this”.

On whether he is worried that Olympiacos may leave the stadium again:



“2018 achieved its purpose. I can’t say whether we are worried or not. Let the good come to Thessaloniki and Toumba and we’ll see. The issue also has to do with our own behavior. We have an additional incentive to think about our behavior. If someone gives an occasion and Olympiacos takes advantage of it, what can I say. Olympiacos gives us another food for thought, for all of us, to be more careful during the match”.

Regarding the fact that there are many who consider that Razvan Lucescu essentially replaces the press office of the “black and white” PAE:



“Unlike Olympiakos, Razvan Lucescu has a reason when he gets angry. The coach does not invent reasons. He only swears, but no one explains why he is lying. He speaks his mind, refers to specific incidents and collects insults. Even if I wasn’t involved in football, I would say that the coach of PAOK is right, not those who curse him. Who disputes that in 2018 they stole the championship from PAOK and it was decided on paper? Who disputes that in the recent game against Panathinaikos, Kourbelis should have been sent off? They don’t tell him that he’s wrong and that things aren’t like that, they just curse him.”

Regarding the fact that PAEK PAOK is accused of allowing only the coach to express himself communicatively on refereeing issues:



“I also read the comments and I get the impression that Razvan Lucescu is not the coach of PAOK but of Levadeakou. PAOK’s communication is everything, it can be expressed in any way. Can PAE communicate its position with a leak of a speech by Ivan Savvidis to the players, with an official announcement, with a statement by Loucheskos, with a statement by Giorgos Savvidis. It is not always necessary that everything be done by agreement. But all this contributes to what is called PAE communication. Razvan Lucescu is no stranger. He is part of the team. After the matches, we must not forget that the coach always talks. The press office can’t go there and tell him you don’t talk, I’ll talk. As lovely as the collaboration between management and coach is, they are two different things. Lucescu tries to keep the team together. He can’t bear to see his players’ sweat being stolen. His goal is to keep the locker room strong and determined. Management is something different. He talks less and does more. For example, we are awaiting the decision of the Professional Sports Commission. In 2020, in the case with Xanthi, you remember the communication hack of Olympiakos. That PAOK will not go to the CAS because they will be relegated to the second national team, even though we were clear from the beginning. But this is the communication propaganda mechanism of Olympiakos. We finally went to CAS, but Olympiacos didn’t. In the first actual trial of the case, we won and in the end, Avgenakis and the members of his committee became a joke. Isn’t this an act?’

For the EAA decision that is still awaited:



“We can’t have an image. I don’t know, if we want to joke, maybe they will wait for the result of tomorrow’s match, to decide how many points will be missing from Olympiakos. PAOK has shown in practice that it does not joke and does not resort to big words. Last time, in the case with Xanthi, the pleadings, after the trial of the case, were filed on January 23. Four days later, on January 27, the EEA announced the decision in the middle of a fight. Just four days passed, for a complex case from a legal point of view, and while three teams, PAOK, Olympiacos and Larissa, had filed pleadings. Now. the pleadings of PAOK PAOK and Giorgos Savvidis were filed on December 16. Today we are on 3/2, 1.5 months have passed and the decision has not yet been made.”