Hellas futebol

[Festivus]

Is their home stadium tough to play at?

[Faliro]

Is their home stadium tough to play at?

AEK? No.. A lot easier than Toumba.  However there will be more fans there, maybe 40k.

Edit. Just realised you are talking about Aris. Yes. They have a very strong atmosphere at home and play very attacking football. You can google their games against Boca to see what they do.

[Festivus]

If you had to sum up the "typical" fan of these clubs: AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK and Aris in a few sentences or less how would you describe them?

[Faliro]

If you had to sum up the "typical" fan of these clubs: AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK and Aris in a few sentences or less how would you describe them?

AEK - in Greece most of them are communists and anarchists. They are an Antifa club.  The AEK fans born outside Hellas are fairly normal and likeable.

Panathinaikos - fans are the Greek version of the lizards. Confused, desperate, self destructive. Miserable bunch. Gate 13 is just an anarchist marijuana smoke-ridden group of violent  idiots. Usually you can tell a greek supports PAO by his face. Disillusioned.

PAOK like PAO are conspiracy theorists.  Everyone is against them in their minds - even though the syriza govt is actually blatently pro PAOK and pro PAO. Most of Northern Greece supports PAOK so their fans can be diverse - however judging by the amount of Palestinian scarves they have at games I suspect soft left. They are moody, angry but loyal to madness at games.

Aris fans are leftists too but I have not met many of them. In fact i have never been to northern Greece as I am a southerner. They produce a great atmosphere in big games.

[Festivus]

If you had to sum up the "typical" fan of these clubs: AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK and Aris in a few sentences or less how would you describe them?

AEK - in Greece most of them are communists and anarchists. They are an Antifa club.  The AEK fans born outside Hellas are fairly normal and likeable.

Panathinaikos - fans are the Greek version of the lizards. Confused, desperate, self destructive. Miserable bunch. Gate 13 is just an anarchist marijuana smoke-ridden group of violent  idiots.

PAOK like PAO are conspiracy theorists.  Everyone is against them in their minds - even though the syriza govt is actually blatently pro PAOK and pro PAO. Most of Northern Greece supports PAOK so their fans can be diverse - however judging by the amount of Palestinian scarves they have at games I suspect soft left. They are moody, angry but loyal to madness at games.

Aris fans are leftists too but I have not met many of them. In fact i have never been to northern Greece as I am a southerner. They produce a great atmosphere in big games.

So they all skew left? What about Olympiacos fans?

Here clubs aren't linked with political ideologies really. A few ultra groups maybe but not general fanbases of clubs. A fan of Benfica, Sporting or Porto can literally be anything ideologically speaking. Football here has always been more of escapist entertainment.

[Faliro]

If you had to sum up the "typical" fan of these clubs: AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK and Aris in a few sentences or less how would you describe them?

AEK - in Greece most of them are communists and anarchists. They are an Antifa club.  The AEK fans born outside Hellas are fairly normal and likeable.

Panathinaikos - fans are the Greek version of the lizards. Confused, desperate, self destructive. Miserable bunch. Gate 13 is just an anarchist marijuana smoke-ridden group of violent  idiots.

PAOK like PAO are conspiracy theorists.  Everyone is against them in their minds - even though the syriza govt is actually blatently pro PAOK and pro PAO. Most of Northern Greece supports PAOK so their fans can be diverse - however judging by the amount of Palestinian scarves they have at games I suspect soft left. They are moody, angry but loyal to madness at games.

Aris fans are leftists too but I have not met many of them. In fact i have never been to northern Greece as I am a southerner. They produce a great atmosphere in big games.

So they all skew left? What about Olympiacos fans?

Yea they do. Olympiakos is a right wing club. Gives millions to charity - far far more than any other club in Hellas - and loves Hellas and loves the tradition and history of Hellas. There is no ideological left wing section of Olympiacos. You wont see any Che Guevera banners or anything like that. You will see right wing areas of Greece adore Olympiacos - like the Mani, Lakonia and so on:



Also Olympiacos defends its brothers abroad:

Here clubs aren't linked with political ideologies really. A few ultra groups maybe but not general fanbases of clubs. A fan of Benfica, Sporting or Porto can literally be anything ideologically speaking. Football here has always been more of escapist entertainment.

Yes -that is far more healthy and there are probably many fans of AEK, PAOK, Aris and PAO who are apolitical - or at least don't have to force it down your throat. Many PAOK fans come across to me a rockers and they do have many fans who strike me as right wing. To be honest - the place is a mystery to me. I have never been up there - in fact I don't think I have ever been north of Atalanti despite having travelled to Greece well over 30 times. 



Football is an escape in Greece too. I find Olympiakos a bit mes que un club just because of Piraeus - what they think Hellas etc and the positivism.

BTW I went a few times to local Benfica club in London as a kid and they seemed apolitical there too. Just all playing cards and playing pool all day. Also eating a lot.

[Festivus]

Local Benfica club? A Casa do Benfica sucursal I assume?

Well I think thats what happens at those places. That and watching games on tv.

[Faliro]

Local Benfica club? A Casa do Benfica sucursal I assume?

Well I think thats what happens at those places. That and watching games on tv.

I am not sure it exists anymore (although it was huge) - in the restaurant a woman almost died from an exploding sausage.

Sorry my mistake - it was a Sporting Clube bar/restaurant. I went a few times when very young - bizarrely with Benfica fans.. probably why I thought it was benfica club.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-448161/Diner-scarred-life-sausage-explodes-face.html

[Festivus]

Apparently our 4-1 win against PAOK was their biggest home defeat at European competitions

[Faliro]

Apparently our 4-1 win against PAOK was their biggest home defeat at European competitions

Yes. Very rare to score so many up there. Aris's record as you know is pretty impressive. Iraklis were also strong at home in Europe. Not an easy city to get a good result in. I think PAOK were actually expecting a victory.

[Festivus]

Btw, ever wondered what's with so many average and below average Portuguese players and managers eventually going to Greece or Turkey in their careers?

At this point, what do Greeks expect every time a Portuguese player comes? Like what style of play do they expect out of them?

[Faliro]

Btw, ever wondered what's with so many average and below average Portuguese players and managers eventually going to Greece or Turkey in their careers?

At this point, what do Greeks expect every time a Portuguese player comes? Like what style of play do they expect out of them?

We don't expect much whenever a Portuguese player/ manager comes. The managment expect a lot however.

There are certain things Greeks get infatuated with. Some make sense - some don't.

The abiding principle you have to remember in Hellas is that there is a strange belief that foreign is good - domestic is bad. Foreign is innovative and professional - domestic is simple and unprofessional. You see it at every level:

- Show a Greek woman a pair shoes made in Greece - than show her the exact same ones made in Italy - watch her drool over the Italian pair and look for defects in the Greek pair (while the Italian pair disintegrate due to exposure to Earth's atmosphere).
- When a foreign coach loses a game - it is because he had too much faith in a certain tactic that didn't work out. When a Greek coach loses game - it is because he is a malaka.
- When a foreign player does nothing all game - the media will say - 'he marked space well' or some such bullshit. When a Greek player does nothing all game - it is because he is shit and shouldn't be playing football.

Greeks also have other strange beliefs.

- The 35 year old slow and weak passing Greek Central Midfielder that destroys the game is useful because he has 'experience' and has to start (See Tziolis, Basinas, Maniatis and 100s of others).
- Full Greek DNA and shit (Stafylidis, Tzavellas) are better than half Greek DNA and good (Xolebas, Koutris).
- Any Greek full back - any one at all - can be played as CM or CB. Even if they fail terribly in that position - the Greek media will not blame them for the loss.
- All Greek managers are fundamentally shit.
- Because a player is Serb, Croatian, Swedish etc they must automatically be good.
- Germans are the best managers in the world regarding the NT.
- Portuguese managers are the next big thing. Why else would Mourinho have coached  Chelsea twice and Villas-Boas Tottenham? There is no other explanation.
- A shitty Greek player that constantly fouls and looks angry when doing it is good and is just showing Tzabouka (passion) - (see Tzavellas's career).
- A small Greek who assists goals and can trap a ball in under 1 second is a show off and not useful to any team (See Ninis, Fetfatzidis, Dimoutsos, Gianniotis).
- Fast Greek CMs are of no use to anyone - they have to be slow, tall and cover space well.
- Walking during a game is acceptable - see Tziolis, Tachtsidis, Basinas, Vryzas etc


All the above is helped by the fact that the Greek footballing media are at Iranian levels of footballing IQ. Basketball reporting is far better.

Having said all that - Martins is not so bad. My only criticism is that he does not use the subs properly and when the team is dying - doesn't change anything - just lives through the nightmare like vs Burnley.

[Festivus]

I meant the players, tbh. The managers is easy it explain due to the Mourinho and Villas-Boas thing to some degree. And also Greeks like Santos lol.

Swedish players good? How so?

Pedro Martins was often called "the drunkard" in this forum... I guess he does kind of look like he drinks heavily.

[Faliro]

I meant the players, tbh. The managers is easy it explain due to the Mourinho and Villas-Boas thing to some degree. And also Greeks like Santos lol.

Swedish players good? How so?

Pedro Martins was often called "the drunkard" in this forum... I guess he does kind of look like he drinks heavily.

Portuguese players we expect nothing from. Brazilians/ Argentinians we expect to create magic etc.. the usual..

Greeks love Scandinavian players: Berg (PAO), Johansson (AEK), Mellberg, Zetterberg (all OSFP) - Danish too René_Henriksen, Michaelsen (PAO) all very respected for their quality and professionalism. Maybe that goes back to the employment of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard 

Martins is a curious fellow. I actually quite like him even though he doesn't like playing my favourite player. He has a very heavy voice but seems to speak logic. He also understands the Olympiacos fans and what each game means to them and shows respect to Olympiacos and Hellas. I even heard him start an interview with Kalispera once (good afternoon) - I know it is not much but these touches go a long way.

[Festivus]

I meant the players, tbh. The managers is easy it explain due to the Mourinho and Villas-Boas thing to some degree. And also Greeks like Santos lol.

Swedish players good? How so?

Pedro Martins was often called "the drunkard" in this forum... I guess he does kind of look like he drinks heavily.

Portuguese players we expect nothing from. Brazilians/ Argentinians we expect to create magic etc.. the usual..

Greeks love Scandinavian players: Berg (PAO), Johansson (AEK), Mellberg, Zetterberg (all OSFP) - Danish too René_Henriksen, Michaelsen (PAO) all very respected for their quality and professionalism. Maybe that goes back to the employment of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard 

Martins is a curious fellow. I actually quite like him even though he doesn't like playing my favourite player. He has a very heavy voice but seems to speak logic. He also understands the Olympiacos fans and what each game means to them and shows respect to Olympiacos and Hellas. I even heard him start an interview with Kalispera once (good afternoon) - I know it is not much but these touches go a long way.

Only time I recall Scandinavian players doing relevant things here was in the 80s when Benfica had players form Sweden and Denmark and ofc Erikson as our manager. In the 80s Swedish clubs did some interesting things in Europe, mainly Malmö FF and IFK Gothemburg.

Portugal also loves cheap Latin American players. As for Benfica fans, any black guy who has a few good games immediately gets compared to Eusébio. Fans loved Renato Sanches and warmed up to Freddy Adu quickly for that reason lol. And also loved Mantorras even when he was injured 80% of the time.