December 26, 2023

December 26, 2023. A date that has already been cemented in Panathinaikos history… for all the wrong reasons. Truth be told, that has been the trend with this team recently: breaking negative records. This past Thursday—MD3 of the Conference League—was no different. First ever loss against a Swedish club. Fifteen years since the team’s last away win in a European group/league stage. Fourteen years since the team’s last European away win in general (excl. qualifying rounds). Once upon a time this team looked European giants straight in the eyes and played up to their level. This is a team that celebrated big European nights and big European away nights, for that matter, and is now achieving all sorts of negative “firsts” in Europe.

Unfortunately it all circles back to the negative date of December 26, 2023. The day that Ivan Jovanović was dismissed. At the time, it came as a shock and the fanbase at large was frustrated. But in the moment it was hard to fathom exactly what was lost that day. Only as time goes on do you truly understand the magnitude of what you have lost. As a result, it is clear now that on that day we lost much more than a good coach and a gentleman. We lost stability, which is arguably the most important thing for any team, but especially crucial for Panathinaikos, given the situation of the last 10+ years. 

I do not need to list off more negatives, but to emphasize how important stability is for this team, I would note that, in the past 10 years—the ‘dark ages’—we average more than one coach per season, including interims. A coach holding the position for 2.5 seasons, as Jovanović did, is unheard of in that span. So yes, stability is one of the most important things for this club, if not the most important thing. That is exactly what Jovanović brought to the table even more so than effective football and a gentlemanlike demeanor scarcely seen in Greek football. That stability is what we lost on December 26, 2023. Today, 10 months later, that stability seems further away than ever. We are now on our 4th coach since Jovanović’s dismissal. Four coaches in 10 months! Winning is good, competing for titles is important, but stability feels priceless right now. We were looking for stability for years on end and we finally found it in Jovanović. Now we are looking for it again.

It’s not like Jovanović was not criticized during his time. He botched an 11pt lead in the league. The next season he failed to get us into a European KO stage after being in a relatively easy group. Ultimately the latter is widely perceived as what cost him his job. Although I am not excusing it (it was indeed a failure given the circumstance—just a draw at home to Maccabi Haifa would have done the job), his value was much more than one failed European campaign. The value of bringing stability and a general competitiveness after years of the club lacking both was far greater than failing to meet an objective. Stability and competitiveness are long term successes. One failed European campaign is a short term failure. Making a decision based heavily on the latter feels rash, given the former. It is even more exacerbated when you consider things were going well in the league at the time. However, for some reason that priceless stability was not weighed as heavily as it should have been when the decision was made, so naturally the club and fans are now paying the price. 

I always try to be optimistic but right now it feels like we are living in the 2010 era where we had no stability and no direction, and because of that it’s impossible to not think about December 26, 2023. I do not like to dwell on the past, which admittedly sounds ironic after reading this, however we are here now, feeling this way, because of that day and the decision that was made on that day. So it also feels impossible to not think about the past in this situation. I want to look forward and think about when we will find stability again, but the recent experiments with Terim and Alonso do not inspire much confidence. I am not writing off Rui Vitoria just because his two predecessors were not the ones. That is not fair. On the contrary, I am backing him until he gives me reason not to, as I think we all should. It is undeniable, however, that the instability in 2024 is a direct testament to what was lost when Jovanović was sacked. We are not changing the past, but unfortunately it still hurts, especially after seeing my team continue to struggle and embarrass itself. As fans, since we do not make the decisions, all we can do is voice our opinions, sorrows, and hope for better days. And hopefully someone is listening, so the same mistakes are not repeated and those better days do actually come. 

-Alex