Alketas Panagoulias – A philosophy of simplicity

Olympiacos was coming off two highly successful seasons, having won two championships and a Double, but the first half of the 1981-1982 season wasn’t going well.

Successful Polish coach Kazimierz Górski left in the summer of 1981 and was replaced by Austrian Helmut Senekovic, who didn’t last long. A series

Fast forward to December 1981 and Alketas Panagoulias’ tenure on the bench of the Greek national team is coming to an end. Most of the local press was sure that the Greek coach was leaving the national side for Aris Thessaloniki, his hometown team and for which he played during his pro career. Nevertheless, he finally takes over Olympiacos, which is now behind in the standings.

Panagoulias had always exhibited a unique way of thinking about football. One of his first moves at Olympiacos was to appoint young left back Nikos Vamvakoulas as the team captain. When asked about this decision he referred to … psych tests, which showed that “if he’s given responsibilities, his performance will be boosted”.

Panagoulias would be quoted in the May 19, 1987, edition of “Ta Nea”: The coach is a king philosopher in his field

His first game on Olympiacos’ bench was against Korinthos, where the latter prevailed 3-1, and with the Reds’ players taking numerous shots, many from outside the penalty box.

Several years later a video emerged shot in the Greek national team’s locker room during the 1994 World Cup in the United States, which would reveal Panagoulias’ demand for incessant shots on goal.”

“What am I asking? …Make shots. Let there be defenders in front. Shoot! That’s how you score!”

During the 1981-1982 season Panagoulias demanded that the Olympiacos players to be serious and simple in their game. Although the Piraeus Club continued to lose significant points at home during one of the most exciting championships ever, the end of the regular season finds arch-rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos tied at the top of the standings.

A tie-breaker match to determine the title is played several weeks later in the central Greece city of Volos – June 29, 1982. The Reds prevailed more comfortably than anyone would have expected and despite only a one-goal difference that the final score (2-1) indicates. Olympiacos’ top players are Nikos Anastopoulos (an assist and a goal), Uruguayan Vicente Estavillo (one goal), along with Vamvakoulas, Michos, Koussoulakis, Lemonis and Mitropoulos.

A believer in sports psychology, he was one of the first in Greek football to understand the importance of communication with his players. Here with striker Kostas Orfanos.

A few days later, the president of Olympiacos, Stavros Daifas, announced that Panagoulias would remain for the next season as well, but he only remained for half the season.

In February 1983, and while the second round of the 1983-1984 season had just begun, Panagoulias accepted the very honorable and tempting offer to take over the US national team and after an agreement with Daifas he left the Reds in a friendly manner. He was replaced by an old acquaintance, Kazimierz Górski, who had won the championship with Olympiacos in 1980 and 1981, a feat he eventually repeated that year as well.

However, Panagoulias’ career with Olympiacos didn’t end here, as he will return for the 1986-1987 season to replace Antonis Georgiadis, who took over the team in October 1986. He made it a priority to re-impose discipline on the roster, even reprimanding the team’s superstars at the time, like Nikos Anastopoulos and Tasos Mitropoulos.

That season, which was fraught with tension, as many football teams withdrew from the top league due to disputes with the state over financial and bureaucratic issues, went smoothly for Olympiacos, which won the league title with a sizable distance from its contenders.

Shortly after winning the championship, Panagoulias would be quoted in the May 19, 1987, edition of “Ta Nea”:

“The coach is a king philosopher in his field. A football team is the only social entity that is subject to dictatorship. In explaining the coach’s position, I mentioned the following two points to my players: first, the coach is always right. Second, if you disagree with the coach, think about the first point.”

However, his second term with Olympiacos ended prematurely.

Panagoulias left in November 1987 after the team had picked up only four points in seven games, and after losing to Panathinaikos, as the home team, at the Athens Olympic Stadium.

It was the year that Larissa won the championship and Olympiacos would experience the beginning of one of the most difficult periods in its history, the so-called “barren years” – i.e. nine consecutive seasons without a championship.

Panagoulias resigned in November 1987 and Olympiacos would experience the beginning of one of the most difficult periods in its history.

A few months after his first arrival on the Olympiacos bench and just before winning the 1982 championship, Alketas Panagoulias spoke to the sports magazine “Omada” (April 4, 1982) about what he considered to be the positive and negative elements of the team.

“For me, the first positive element of Olympiacos is its fans. The team’s number one ally and supporter is undoubtedly its wonderful fans. It is, I would emphasize, the force from which everything good that can be done in Olympiacos comes from.

“Another positive element is the club’s administration, which wants to create a great Olympiacos, just as every fan dreams of. The third positive element is the team’s potential. And I especially emphasize this, because there are players with Olympiacos today who are not only excellent players, but above all excellent guys, one with whom a coach can easily work with.

“I would say that the disadvantages stem from the very advantages of the team, i.e. that Olympiacos must be first at all costs. The fact that the team cannot and has no right to lose any game.

“That it must win ALL games in and away from its stadium. These are all not, of course, that they are disadvantages, but they certainly have a reverse effect on the team’s performance in certain predominantly games.

“However, it is imperative that people realize that football is a game, and that Olympiacos cannot win every match. After all, this is the ‘wild beauty’ of football, the fact that Olympiacos can also lose at the Georgios Karaiskakis.

“If they realize this, then the Olympiacos fans will spend pleasant afternoons at the Karaiskakis Stadium”.