Giannakopoulos' show: on city rivalry, the future and a compliment to Yanai

Dimitris Giannakopoulos, the owner of Panathinaikos, gave an extensive interview to EuroInsiders, and as usual, provided a series of intriguing statements. Between the rivalry with Olympiacos, the relationship with the Angelopoulos brothers, and his future at the club, he also addressed Ofer Yanai and the way the Hapoel Tel Aviv owner is involved in the professional side of the club.

When asked about the difference between him and club owners who are deeper into professional decisions, and Yanai was mentioned as an example, Giannakopoulos complimented:

"I love him. I love him very much. He is a great figure. I cannot say what the right way of working is."

He added: "Everyone has their own way of running the business. Hapoel is a new team, and everyone is gaining experience. It may be that experience will change their way in the future, but in my opinion, the results are what determine."

From there, Giannakopoulos moved to the rivalry with Olympiacos and did not spare words: "I cannot put Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in the same sentence. We are two completely different clubs in terms of power, size, values, everything. For me, it is a childish quarrel. It is them against themselves."

According to him, the main part of the rivalry between the clubs was born from football: "Is there a rivalry in basketball? It comes from football. There is no rivalry in basketball. Olympiacos in football has won many championships, but this is basketball. We are two completely different clubs."

Giannakopoulos also took a jab at the rival's fans: "Olympiacos fans have learned in the last ten years that basketball is an orange ball and not black and white." He then clarified: "Ten years ago you would go to an Olympiacos game and hear in the stands 'offside, offside'." However, he immediately added that he respects the club's fans and the fans of all teams.

Regarding the relationship with the Angelopoulos brothers, he said:

"When someone throws a small stone at you, you take a rock. And luckily in this area there are huge rocks. You just take one and throw it back."

He added that for him it was always about "action and reaction," and claimed he had tried in the past to lower the flames. According to him, he had previously proposed a one-on-one game with proceeds going to an orphanage, and even tried to promote joint Panathinaikos and Olympiacos shirts with a message against violence. He claimed that when he approached the other side with an offer to sit together in the stands, he was told that "the team, the fans, and the organization are not yet ready to support something like that."

In another part of the interview, Giannakopoulos also addressed his future at Panathinaikos and admitted that he is already thinking about the day after. "I love Panathinaikos. I grew up in a house where the word Panathinaikos was said every ten minutes," he said. "But I never said I would be here forever."

He even claimed that the club's value has reached about half a billion euros, and clarified that he will not automatically pass the responsibility to his children: "I am definitely not going to pass this obligation to my children and put them in the situation I was in in 2012," he said.

When asked where he sees himself in five years, he answered with a half-smile that he imagines himself "watching games on TV as a fan and shouting that we need to bring another center and another forward."