The latest chapter in Shamrock Rovers’ European odyssey is, fittingly, a trip to Greece to face PAOK Salonika. Here are five things you might not know about the Hoops’ opponents.
One of their heroes sounds distinctly like an Irishman
Anyone ever heard of Les Shannon? Pardon our ignorance, but we had never encountered his name prior to conducting a little research on PAOK, and instantly assumed he was Irish. To our dismay, it turns out he’s from Liverpool, although that just probably means that there’s some Irish blood down the line there somewhere.
In any case, Shannon is something of an iconic figure in the history of PAOK, having presided over them during their most successful spell in the early 70’s, winning the Greek Cup in 1972 and 1974, finishing runners-up in the league in 1973, a year in which they also made the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup, where they fell to the might of AC Milan.
There was outrage when Shannon was forced out of the job in 1974 and he is still lovingly remembered by PAOK fans. Interesting fact: Shannon worked alongside Pele in putting together the football sequences in the film Escape to Victory. We just hope he had nothing to do with Sylvester Stallone’s ridiculously over-dramatic goalkeeping cameo.
Their best player’s a tricky little fella
Rovers fans should keep an eye out for Portuguese winger Vieirinha, a tricky winger with four goals in eight games already this season. Blackburn were thought to be close to signing him in the summer, but the deal for the former Porto man never went through, possibly because of a €15 million buy-out clause in his contract.
Greece chiefs are reportedly trying to convince him to change allegiance to their national side, as although he still has dreams of playing for his native land, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Simao and Ricardo Quaresma represent pretty stiff competition on the wings.
Small, but quick and skilful, he’ll pose a serious threat to both of Rovers full-backs this evening. Best of all, according to his Wikipedia page, he’s ambidextrous. We all know Michael O’Neill would give his right arm for someone of that calibre.
Their fans can be a bit rowdy
Without wanting to stereotype or sound xenophobic, it could be said that the passion of football fans in south-eastern Europe tends to boil over just a tad from time to time. Unfortunately for PAOK Salonika, their history is littered with episodes of fan violence.
Last season, they were hit with a massive €250,000 fine and forced to play their final league game in front of an empty stadium after a mass pitch invasion following a defeat to AEK Athens, but their nadir in terms of fan trouble came in a European tie with Paris St. Germain in 1992.
After what was described as “serious hooliganism episodes” during that game, they were subsequently banned from European competition for five years, but made a triumphant return with a victory over Arsenal in 1997. For an idea of what they’re capable of in their worst moments, check out the slightly disturbing montage below.
They won’t be wearing the number 12 or 17
This was probably a more pertinent and symbolic gesture in the days where players didn’t indulge themselves with squad numbers like 66 and 99, but PAOK have retired the number 12 and 17 jerseys for emotionally significant reasons.
The number 17 jersey was retired in 1998 in memory of Panagiotis Katsouris, a midfielder who died in a car crash at the age of 22. The number 12 jersey was retired in honour of the club’s supporters, who the club consider to be their 12th man. Bless.
Their manager once signed Tony Cascarino
There aren’t many managers who would have taken a punt on a lazy 34-year old who admitted to lying about his nationality and amending his passport to appear a year younger than he actually was, but current PAOK coach Laszlo Bolini saw past all that when signing Cascarino for Nancy from Marseille in 1997.
He was rewarded for his faith in Big Cas, who scored 44 goals in 109 appearances for the French side, living up to the ‘Tony Goal’ moniker that had been bestowed upon him by an adoring French public.
Bolini fondly recalled Cascarino at a press conference earlier this week and was said to be shocked to hear that he had become a professional poker player. As for what he thought of his recent Holocaust comments, we may never know.
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