Youngest Goal Scorer in AEK History,Taxiarchis Fountas!!!!

AEK 1-0 Platanias!!

YEP! Our first win of the season! And it came at a great time. Still early enough in the season that we can turn things around. Still more than enough teams near us in the standings that with a little momentum, we can easily climb to higher positions. And especially with some big games coming up, we really needed a win to boost our morale and confidence (for both the players and the supporters).

I didnt get to watch the match but it sounds like we did alright, and sounded like we were much stronger in the second half. And though I havent seen any games yet, I definitely feel more confident with Linen. Not to take anything away from Vlachos… He loves AEK, came in at a really hard time and did what he could, but he just doesnt have the experience and professionalism that Linen has.

I cant wait to see how these guys turns things around now.

 

Oh, and also, the crowd at the end of the match (reminds me of the atmosphere after some of our big derby wins):

I also loved seeing Linen walk up to the Originals like that!

 

And I found one video of the highlights on youtube but Ill wait and see if I find a link for a better quality one. Fountas scored our goal after being set up by a great pass from Roger (apparently Roger made quite the difference when he came one).

PAOK 1-0 AEK

I certainly wasn’t expecting us to get our first win of the season in Toumba, but a 1-0 loss still isn’t too bad (considering our current situation… young players, first derby for the team, new coach). I didn’t get to watch or follow the match, but I heard that we played a pretty tight game defensively and managed to hold PAOK back for much of the match. We also apparently weren’t treated too well by the ref, but what else is new…

We’re still last in the league (painful isn’t it?) but we can still definitely turn things around. Not so sure we can make the playoffs, but hopefully we’ll be able to stay safely away from relegation. Our next match is against Platanias and though I know little about this club and have yet to see them play, and though they are a new team to the league, they’re doing quite well. But hopefully we’ll get our first win?

Lienen it is

So, after about a week of waiting, we finally got our new coach a couple days ago. And while I wasn’t too excited when I first heard his name mentioned as a possibility, Ive since started feeling a little more comfortable about it. And, considering how bad our situation is, I guess we really should be grateful that anyone was still willing to step in.

 

Sure, we could’ve gotten a better coach… isn’t that almost always the case? But at least Lienen does have plenty of experience as a manager, and he knows the Greek league. He knows what to expect, he’s experienced it all a few times now. Now we just have to wait and see if he can turn things around. Though, really, only part of the blame can be put on the manager when we have a team as inexperienced as the one we have now. Really, the fact that our manager has more superleague experience than most of our players is a pretty frightening fact.

Hmmm…

Hhmmmmmmmmmm…

Hm…

So. Not sure who has been following things with AEK lately… not even sure who still follows this blog anymore considering its been so long since I posted (and for that I apologize, but I just never felt I had much to offer).

But things arent going too well. Things are terrible, really…

AEK, one of the most historic clubs from Greece (THE most historic in my opinion, but Im certainly bound to be a little biased), is at the bottom of the tables, with two points. Two points from six games (so that is two out of a total of eighteen possible points). We’re even lower in the standings than teams like Panthrakikos, Levadeiakos, and Veroia (AND Platanias, a team that just joined the league this year, yet are currently in fourth place with eleven points).

Now, Im sure everyone expected us to have a tough time this season, I know I certainly did. And I accepted it, accepted it as something that needed to be done. But I never expected us to have this hard a time. And we shouldn’t. We’re AEK. There was a time when this club was able to come from being down 2-0 against Madrid, in their own stadium, and even the score at 2-2. There was a time when this team was able to beat teams like Rangers away. There was a time we could beat teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Porto at home, in front of some of the most impressive atmospheres ever created by European supporters. Sure, these wins weren’t that common, but there was still a time when AEK could go up against teams like these and know that, if they played the best they could, they’d always stand a chance.

Yet now, we face teams like Kavala, Panionios, and Ofi,hoping and praying for a win? Is that really what AEK has become? Is that what people have LET AEK become? Even supporters of Greek football in general, or supporters of our rivals, should not accept what has happened to AEK. Take away a strong AEK and its like taking away a strong Liverpool from England, or a strong Inter from Italy, or a strong Marseille from France. Greece NEEDS AEK.

I didn’t start this post with the intention of ranting. I didn’t have any sort of a plan when I started this post, I just felt the need to post something, to show that I’m still here. This team has changed since I first started posting on this blog. We went from pretty-much-winning-championships in 2008, to where were are now, four years later, in 2012. Things with AEK have changed, and not in a good way unfortunately. Everythings changed, really. I’ve changed, the situation in Greece has changed.

But regardless of what has happened to AEK, regardless of what will happen, AEK will always mean the same thing to me. AEK represents so much, to so many people. It represents our history, its a link to a past many of us never actually experienced. A past we could only read about, or hear about from our ancestors.

Yet again Ive taken this post in a certain direction, though I dont know if its really the direction I want to take this post.

Part of me wants to make those responsible for what has happened to AEK feel guilty. But really, I know they’ll never read this. And many live such busy lives, with their companies and ships, to ever care. Yet some probably do care, and I cant say I blame those who stuck with the team for a few years, continued some financial support even though they saw nothing in it for them.

I think its best I end the post here, before I continue on for too much longer. I apologize to everyone who read this expecting something worth while. A match report, or something along those lines. But really, I just felt like expressing how I felt. Because I know Im not the only one out there who feels this way. One thing I’d like to say though is, to everyone who supports AEK, though there might be little we can do in terms of financially supporting the club, we must never forget what AEK means. We can never become supporters who are there only when the club is winning, or when times are good. AEK wasn’t created to celebrate how great life is. AEK was created as a very real reminder of what people left behind, their homes, their lives, families, children, loved ones. AEK was a reminder of the hardships people had to go through and experience. And a reminder of the hardships people have to face everyday, people forced from their homes everyday because of war and conflict, because of natural disasters. Supporting AEK is supporting more than just a club, even if some people don’t see it that way. And I hope that if you support AEK, you’ll always remember that. And I hope the people and the government that have let this club down remember that as well.

Okay, I think Im done. I know I’ve said it before, but Im really sorry I haven’t been able to get any match reports up. The games are always on when I have to work, and I haven’t even found the time to watch a full match yet this entire season. But I think I’m gonna make an effort to post on here a little more often from now on.