Kyriakos: “Lucescu could be in another Greek team, but he came here”

Kyriakos Kyriakos took stock of this year’s PAOK, speaking on a broadcast of the association of fans of the club.

The member of the Board of Directors of the “two-headed team of the north” spoke about Razvan Lucescu, PAE’s relationship with the fans and the stadium, while also referring to the goal of winning the Cup.

What he said in detail on the SF PAOK Kilkis show:

On whether there has been a discussion about reinforcement ahead of the new season: “We can’t talk about transfers yet with a final in front of us. Anyway, from my position I have to tell you that there has been a plan for the development of this team since last summer, which said that the foundations will be laid this year and quality will be added this summer.

This year the teams that are 1-2 were last year 4-5, a bad year cannot be considered lost if it gives you the basis with quality additions to make the leap in the new year. A transition season also has… away games and bad defeats but there is a base that had encouraging messages, I understand the grumbling about the fourth place but this will go to… thunder if we don’t do what we want, that is the few additions that we will upgrade us and from position 4 we will fight for position 1.

We more easily managed the failures, despite the successes, we did not build on them on many levels, we did not evaluate what we had in hand and appreciate it when it is too late. After the success of 2019, I saw from many a disparagement of the children of that bakery. This was proved by the result. From one point on, a cohesion was lost that took us off the road.

The feeling that we are all fighting together against everyone for a dream has been lost, and I say this as a self-criticism. When you lose the romance in the development of things and go to the technocratic part, it’s easier to see people who are not so good at what they do. We couldn’t find a consistent org chart as we changed people who didn’t join the function. We are all… gutted to come fourth, especially the coach. We will get players who will upgrade us.”

For protection in Lucescu: “I didn’t come back to be the press representative, I’m trying to deal with other issues. I think PAE has too frequent positions with announcements, the coaches are obliged to talk before and after the matches, they are part of the teams and don’t work alone, I would never let Lucescu… choke and get one of his own my role It is logical since there is no competitive success, it is also logical that there are complaints in many areas”.

For the PAE-fan connection: “At PAE we have a good public relations department with the fans, they can understand, share and raise the issues of the fans in the right way. I don’t think there are any people who don’t understand the world. Additions are constantly being made with people who have the DNA of PAOK, it is a difficult relationship in every team, the point is to keep the balance by listening to each other’s issues. I think we have the people for that to happen.”

For supporting Lucescu: “The management always draws up a game plan, the management never says if such and such a player is good, there is a conversation between the coach and the technical director based on the financial data and from there on the corresponding moves are made. Certainly the strategy part can succeed or fail, but the mood of support for Loucheskou was shown by his return to PAOK. He could be in another Greek team, but he came here.

We brought him in to be that… helmsman in a team transition. There was a strategic plan from the beginning. Regarding this season, until the second matchday of the Super League we were able to believe that we can do something more, but the home defeat against AEK hit us hard. I hope at least we can close the season well. Panathinaikos, with few transfers from fourth last year, came second this year, while AEK came first from fifth. So the evaluation is based on roster dynamics and not quantity.”

For the field: “There are two axes, one the movements of the PAE and one the government. The only thing that was not done from our side is the presentation of the plans, because we thought that some changes and guarantees were needed to move the project forward, the fact that we pulled back a little on the communication around the stadium has to do with the strategy we want to follow. We will be ready, the file is very… ripe after much study. We went through many difficulties to get the presidential decree, more practical steps are needed from the central political scene”.

For the Cup final: “For the headquarters, we excluded OAKA from the beginning. The fact that a stadium was not found a week before the final, the only one who is facilitated is Olympiacos because they want teams to be declared without the cup final taking place and to go based on the Super League score. We decided from the beginning to go based on an announcement, we tried to find a stadium so that there would be people, it is not our pleasure to have a final behind closed doors, neither did AEK, to be honest. PAOK is going to play for the first time as an outsider, we would definitely like the people to support us and we will go with the metal and stubbornness we have shown in the big matches and bring the cup to Thessaloniki.

In closing, he added: “Since the middle of 2018 and for a year and a half, all the parts of PAOK have been seeing eye to eye. We also take responsibility for the problems of recent years, but the world is not always right in everything, the administration is in some cases, so a two-sided relationship is needed regarding this part. The point is to go to this stage again. We are not far from it, we have the know-how. We have been missing in recent years a great success, but I believe that we should not wait for success to rally, but rally to bring success.”