New board prepares bid for rescue of rudderless PAOK
Troubled Thessaloniki soccer club PAOK, currently without an administration and unable to pay debts that threaten to oust one of Greece’s biggest teams from professional competition, may be saved by a 10-member team of investors that has begun legal proceedings for the club’s acquisition. Headed by Nikos Vezyrtzis, formerly an owner of PAOK’s basketball club, the team of investors submitted required documents to legal authorities in Thessaloniki yesterday morning. An 11th member will need to be added to this team for legal approval and establishment of a new board. An additional member is being sought for an odd-number board, as required by local business law. The club’s amateur division, in charge of all except soccer and basketball, is currently at the helm. The team of prospective investors met with club officials yesterday to discuss debt concerns. One of several fronts that will need to be quickly confronted is a letter of guarantee for 303,000 euros to the Professional Sports Committee by December 6. Otherwise, PAOK may be ousted from the Super League. One of the 10 investors, Alexandros Mamidakis, who runs a petroleum firm, Jet Oil, is expected to provide this amount as emergency funds in exchange for a temporary sponsorship deal that would put his company’s logo on the club jersey. Mamidakis, reports said, would agree to withdraw his company’s logo from the team’s jersey should a more lucrative sponsorship deal be struck. PAOK’s previous boss Yiannis Youmenos and his board resigned a little over a fortnight ago amid the club’s precarious financial condition and growing dislike expressed by team fans. The cash-strapped team has had to deal with legal action filed by a former coach, Austrian Rolf Fringer, as well as ex-players, for outstanding fees. They took their cases to FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. PAOK’s recently hired Serb coach Momcilo Vukotic, who replaced outgoing Ilie Dumitrescu after the Romanian resigned, expressed satisfaction about yesterday’s takeover developments but said he didn’t want to elaborate at this stage. «Competitive issues are the main thing. We need support from the administration as well as the people. The players, until now, have given their utmost and I commend them,» Vukotic said. «I hope they continue this way because, you know, slackening because of the financial problems is the only thing I fear.» Despite the money woes, PAOK is fourth in Greece’s 16-team Super League with 21 points from 12 games.
