Jurovic: “Panionios is first in my heart, my second homeland Greece”

A man who was not just coach but part of his story Panioniou and her own New Smyrna.

THE Vlade Jurovicthe coach who led the “blue” at the top moment of their basketball history, the winning of the Greek Cup in 1991, spoke on Eok Webradio’s “Direct Ripley” show.

With disarming honesty and nostalgia, the iconic Serbian technician unfolded his memories from Greece, Panioniosthat unforgettable group of 90s and of course Fani Christodoulou.

In detail what he said:

For the position of Panionios and Greece in his heart: “I am half Greek, I have a Greek passport and I feel that Greece is my second home. I had a great time here, maybe even the most beautiful years in my career. I lived in Athens for 12 years, so how not to love Greece and especially Panionios? At Panionios I spent most years in a row, because in other teams I was a maximum of four years. In Panionios I sat for six years. In my heart is Panionios first, then Athens and then all of Greece. “

For the final with PAOK in 1991 and winning the Cup: “PAOK a few days ago had taken the European Cup with coach Dragan Sakota and their players Fasoula, Prelevic, Korfa, Barlow and other big stars. We won in front of 16,000 people, where 11 came from Nea Smyrna and 5 from Thessaloniki. This did not happen before or afterwards, because New Smyrna is not such a big city. It was awesome after Nea Smyrna Square I talked to in front of so many thousands of people. Then they were full of all the stadiums, everyone was watching basketball. It was very nice years. ”



For basketball played by Panionios in those years: “We really played very nice basketball. We had talents in the team, Christodoulou, Gasparis, Jankovic, Pi Jay Brown, Benacek. We were playing surprise, we had a lot of three -point shots, passes from behind. We had everything, people loved to see us and I know this because they still tell me about the nice basketball we were playing then. We might have had a small stadium, but every team was hard to go there because it was very handset. “

For his relationship with the then young man Fani Christodoulou: “Fanis and Drazen Petrovic had the same level of talent, but Drazen was working 6-8 hours a day alone with the team, while Fanis couldn’t stand … two hours. Fanis was a terrible talent and a player, he could reach the NBA. I love him and appreciate him. “

For Nea Smyrna Square: “This square is something special. There I learned the Greek language, I didn’t have a teacher or I knew grammar. The first one I learned is “a medium -sized frappe” and after the … well -known words. It was very beautiful years. Now I’m 77 years old, but again I came here and said to stay for five days and not just 2-3 to see some friends. “