Sfeiropoulos: “I like to have problems, I’m not for the simple and easy”

THE Yannis Sfeiropoulos made an impressive start to his tenure in Red Starafter in his first season on the team’s bench he won the Serbian championship, the Serbian Cup and Adriatic leaguenow looking for an even better course in Euroleague from the new year.

The Greek coach gave an account of the season that ended on the official channel of the “red and whites”, talking about his relationship with Milos Teodosic and comparing Greece and Serbia in terms of mindset.

What he said in detail:

For Milos Teodosic: “Milos is a blessing for any coach, because he is very talented and because he has a strong personality. The opportunity to coach this type of player is a great honor for me. I have known Milos since he was 19 years old, when I was an assistant coach at Olympiakos. He came and I wanted to help him at first, it was his first team outside of Serbia.

Then we built a relationship and met again. I was an assistant coach at CSKA. We had a very good season, apart from the last game, in which we lost the EuroLeague, but all the other seasons were great. We won a lot of games and continued to build our relationship when I came here. I am happy to now have him as a player and as a first coach. He knows me, I know him and our collaboration has been and continues to be excellent and everything has been for the benefit of our team.”

For the working conditions of a coach in Greece and Serbia: “They are similar because both Serbia and Greece are Balkan countries and the mentality of the fans is very similar. The pressure at all three big clubs that I coached and that I coach now is a lot, but I like the pressure. I want to have pressure in my work, because first of all I don’t see it as a job, but as a hobby because I love basketball. First of all I’m doing what I love, and secondly, knowing that I’m managing a high pressure situation gives me more satisfaction. Knowing that I overcome problems and difficulties gives me satisfaction, so I like having problems.

I’m not for the simple and the easy. I’m for the tough, and this club, Red Star is a big club, with a big history and with a large majority of fans who want results here and now. They need to understand that we work hard. They need to understand that we will do our best for the success of the club and try to do even better next season.”