Angelopoulos: “Wright had been proposed to us – Platha had been asking us for four months for Campengele to leave”

There I made a deal with him, fine, let’s accept it, let’s accept some defeats. But in Europe, because the games are few, to play whatever it takes to win, some different defenses. He had accepted it. Managing everyday life with Platha was difficult. Very good coach, difficult person. Several times he had some obsessions.

One of them was the two tall ones. After the game against Lavrio (in the season opener), he asked me to leave the two tall players from the team. He told me ‘if it is not possible for both of them to leave, Kampengele must leave’. There we had a first disagreement, we told him that we believe him and want to wait. We had a difficulty there, he was pressuring us.

Every Monday was my nightmare, he would call me and say ‘President why is Kampengele still here’. At some point we told him ok, we will see the market, if there is someone tall. Objectively, we didn’t want it. Giorgos (s.s. Khinas) went out to the market to see what was available to calm the coach down. There was really nothing of note.

Unfortunately, every week, the constant refrain was why won’t Campengele go. The highlight was when we beat PAOK, where Campengele was the MVP and AEK’s social media had promoted the player, he got furious and said ‘why are you promoting the player and you’re doing it on purpose so he doesn’t leave’. We had a heated discussion about Campengele and we were trying to manage this, day by day, week by week, month by month.

At some point we tried to arrange a meeting between them. He canceled the appointment at the last minute. At some point Giorgos Khinas came and told me that the pressure of the coach is unbearable.

He told me that there is a proposal from a Euroleague team, Red Star, they offer us a buy out of 100,000 euros for Campengele. He told me ‘I don’t agree, but maybe we should think about it since the coach doesn’t want him’.

I told him I wasn’t watching it much and asked what the alternative was. He tells me that they have recommended us a player who was in China. Wright, who is now at Olympiakos, should come straight away.

We thought about it for 1-2 days and decided that we don’t want Campengele to leave. This was the coach’s final outburst. He was on the bars because the player stayed. You understand that the player also had the emotional intelligence to know who wants him and who doesn’t. He had begun to behave in an escapist manner.

Until a dilemma came in and both said ‘him or me’. In this dilemma, it is not good to take the player’s side because you set a bad precedent in the locker room.