Mercury retrograde and the leap year of Itudis

Spyros Foskolos, good time, once said: “Once a coach is hired, his firing is already in progress“, a German further summed it up by saying:”The carriage statues are not made of marble but of paper to make them easier to burn,” and England manager Howard Wilkinson got to the heart of the matter in a cynical but clever conversation…

“There are two categories of coaches: those who have just been fired and those who will be fired in the future“!

This saying, made famous by Dusko Vujošević when he was summarily sacked by CSKA Moscow in the middle of the 2010/11 season, can now be adopted by Dimitris Itoudis, who just a few hours ago realized the inevitability of his fate. .

Spanoulis, Saras and the “special ones”

And was that all?

The fraudster lost both jobs within three months, first the one with the national team and then the one at Fenerbahce, and it remains to be seen whether a second player who faltered at Panathinaikos will take his place…

His successor was Vassilis Spanoulis in the national team and Sarunas Jasikevicsos’ candidacy plays a big role at Fenerbahce!

Of course such things happen: they happen even to the best families, after all, no coach has ever signed a contract with a bank for life…

Nobody except the “special ones” like Gregg Popovic and Zeljko Obradovic, who throughout their coaching careers go and go wherever they want, when they want, how they want and if and for as long as they want!

To tell my sin and without pretending to be the prophet after Christ,… I have been afraid of Itudis lately and here my intuition was confirmed…

1-6 and the defeat against Efes

The 2017 European champions may be the only team to have sent off Real (under Facundo Campazo’s unwitting patronage), but six defeats in recent EuroLeague games have clearly not been easy for Ali Kocs to bear.

This persistent bad moon and the fall into the void are the cause of the divorce, as the 81:80 defeat against the decimated Efes in the Clasico of the Turkish league apparently played a role here.

However, it must be said that, as has happened so often and repeatedly in our country, a manager must pay dearly for the hardship of defeat in a historic derby.

The marble of derbies of all time

The coaches at Olympiakos and Panathinaikos are aware of this and have experienced it first hand. In fact, Giorgos Bartzokas and Dusko Ivanovic took part in such a relay in the 2014/15 season, while Argyris Pedoulakis and Dimitris Priftis.

Unlike his eight-year tenure at CSKA Moscow, which he left due to the Russian teams’ exclusion from the EuroLeague, the head coach from Berea did not stay on the Fenerbahce bench for long.

He stayed there for a season and two and a half months without winning a title, while his team, despite home advantage, lost to Efes in the semi-finals of the Turkish league, in which Ergin Ataman performed his “swan song”. .

The Greek Orphan and the Curse of Zelicus

A month earlier, Fenerbahce had fought heroically against Olympiakos in the Euroleague playoff series, while earlier this season there was a lot of talk about Nick Calathes and, in particular, Tyler Dorsey.

Now the two of them, as well as (Fenerbahce’s third Greek international) Giorgos Papagiannis, are orphans, but will obviously find a new hug to lean on!

Looking back over the past few seasons, I realize that the legacy Obradovic leaves behind to the teams he leaves is becoming a curse!!!

After his voluntary departure from Panathinaikos, where he remained for 13 consecutive seasons, the green bench became the center of passers-by, while his seven-year spell at Fenerbahce was followed by three changes: Igor Kokoskov (2020-21), Saša Djordjevic (2021-2021) . 22) Dimitris Itoudis and the one who will now take over the technical leadership with the aim of turning things around…

Fenerbahce will easily find their next coach…

The unemployment benefits and the “Two Cups”!

But I imagine that Itoudis will not remain idle and will not expect to live on the OAED’s unemployment benefit or earn the dowry of his only daughter!

I laugh now when I write this, but in such cases I always remember the saying of Zeliko Pavlisevic, who, as coach of Panathinaikos, raised two fingers of his hand when he heard the questions surrounding him threatening him to say four words. . .

“Two cups, my friend“!

The Croatian coach was referring to the two championship trophies he won as head coach with Cibona Zagreb (1986) and Jugoplastica Split (1991).

And Itoudis can keep his two trophies with CSKA (2016, 2019), apart from the five with Panathinaikos, alongside Obradovic and save them for the rest of his career…