Following the untimely passing of Greek international and Panathinaikos defender George Baldock, after just three appearances for his new club since a free transfer to the Spyros Louis stadium from Sheffield United, it's worth asking where this leaves the Trifylli (Shamrock), traditionally one of the Super League's powerhouses alongside rivals Olympiakos.
A tribute was movingly paid before the October Nations League clash between the land of his grandmother and that of his birth, having earned twelve caps since his 2022 début after choosing to go down the route of playing for granny's home country.
At the time of writing Panathinaikos have climbed the table and sit in third place under former Benfica boss Rui Vitória, who has won his first three league games since taking over as manager at the end of October. He replaced Diego Alonso, a relative newcomer to the dugout who arrived in June of this year after a miserable two months with Sevilla, following his resignation from the Uruguay national job having wanted to return to the cut and thrust of club football. However, his only season with his latest employers did not go to plan, as they sat in eighth when he got binned, albeit only five points from league leaders Aris- searching for a first title since 1946.
Losing at home to Asteras Tripolis probably wasn't the kick-off they'd hoped for, another home run out the following week at least brought with it a first win thanks to an Andraz Sporar goal against Levadiakos. There followed slim pickings, the next five games saw away draws at Athens Kallithea and PAOK, another home win over Panserraikos- the points secured thanks to new boy Tetê's first two goals since a move from Galatasaray, plus one from Filip Đuričić. Then came a 2-0 away defeat to AEK Athens and a stalemate with Olympiakos, which was Baldock's last appearance in green.
They have also returned to Europe after winning last season's Greek Cup, a twentieth crowning glory sealed with a late Giorgios Vagiannidis winner against Aris in possibly their best campaign since a takeover of the club by fans group the PAO Alliance 2012. Giannis Alafouzos was elected as president after the group reached an agreement with former main shareholder Giannis Vardinogiannis to take his controlling 54.7 % stake in their club. The Alliance offered a share to anyone who wanted to become a member and several former players contributed- among them former Premier League men Gilberto Silva, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Djibril Cissé.
And so by 18 July 2012 the Alliance were steering the ship, though the 2012- 13 season ended with a sixth place league finish, last sixteen Greek Cup exit and being dumped out in the Europa League group stage with Alafouzos as chairman. The 13-14 campaign began with his announcement of budget cuts due to the massive losses inherited from the previous club board, who'd resigned en masse following violence in the aftermath of a derby with Olympiakos in the March of 2012...
Ekathimerini reported on the fallout-
“The scars at Panathinaikos from the abandoned derby against Olympiakos last Sunday are ever deepening as on Friday its governing board resigned and the investors who had recently offered to pay some much-needed cash to keep the club out of financial trouble are backing out.
One day after the Super League imposed on Panathinaikos the deduction of three points for this season and two for the next as well as four games behind closed doors and a fine of over 250,000 euros, the emergency meeting of the board ended with almost everyone resigning and shareholders Andreas Vgenopoulos and Adamantios Polemis, as well as prospective investor Thodoris Vassilakis, asking for their money back.
Eleven out of the board's 13 members tendered their resignation, with outgoing president Dimitris Gontikas saying that “we had no other option. Before anyone judges us, he should consider the conditions created. There are no guarantees for us to go on.”
And by 2015 it was Alafouzos hinting he may step aside, with the board taking the extraordinary step of holding a meeting with the members of the Alliance to debate pulling out of the Super League after yet more ugly scenes against the same opposition- though fire was eventually held on both moves.
He may have had cause to reconsider after yet more sorry scenes during the same fixture in 2019- CNN reporting:
“The match was initially stopped for eight minutes within just six minutes of the game kicking off, with a group of home team supporters – some of whom were masked – invading the outside of the pitch and attacking the Olympiakos substitutes and those in the team’s dugout. The referee added 13 minutes of first-half stoppage-time to make up for the lengthy incident.
The game’s only goal – scored in the 53rd minute by Spanish striker Miguel Ángel Guerrero – sparked further violence, this time outside the stadium, with fans releasing fire-bombs. Police fought back using tear-gas in an attempt to put an end to the fighting and to regain control. However, the fumes then wafted into the arena and spread onto the pitch, hitting the players and the fans within the stadium.”
Little wonder then that he took this as a spur to tackle the corruption in the country's domestic game.
“There was violence because corruption leads to violence - it increases violence. It is not the only reason why we have hooliganism, but when a portion of fans feel their games are stolen from them they become violent, and this has an even more negative impact. It is a vicious circle.”
Meanwhile, back in England, it’s staggering to imagine how certain Sheffield United fans think that death is an acceptable addition to the one-upmanship between rivals.
His now former employers are far too used to tragedy and the uglier side of the beautiful game. We can only hope that from tragedy comes a degree of good- with Panathinaikos already having agreed to donate the value of Baldock's full three year contract to his family, alongside the staging of a benefit match for a player taken too soon from the ranks.