Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sporadic success and stone years

The first championship as a Top National League, called Alpha Ethniki, was held for the first time in the 1959-60 season however the 60s and the early 70s were not as fruitful for Olympiacos, having won only two championships and six cups. Another glorious chapter began in 1972, after Nikos Goulandris became president. He appointed Lakis Petropoulos as coach and signed star players Giorgos Delikaris, Yves Triantafyllos, Julio Losada, Milton Viera and Dimitris Persidis. Under Goulandris presidency, Olympiacos won the title three times in a row from 1973 to 1975, combining it with the cup in 1973 and 1975. The highlight for that side was the 1973-74 season, when Olympiacos won the league with record points (59) and goals (102). Following Goulandris resignation from the presidency in 1975, the team went through a relative dry period in the second half of the 1970s. However in the early 80s,when the championship became professional, Olympiacos emerged again as the dominant power in the Greek football winning the title four times in a row (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983). Key players during this period included forward Nikos Anastopoulos, midfielder Tasos Mitropoulos and goalkeeper Nikos Sarganis. Alketas Panagoulias, who had also been manager of the Greek national football team and the United States national soccer team, coached the team between 1981 and 1983 and again in the 1986-87 season, earning the championship title in 1982, 1983 and 1987.

Olympiacos experienced its darkest days from the late-1980s until the mid-90s. In the mid-80s Olympiacos came into the hands of Greek businessman George Koskotas. Soon Koskotas was accused of and convicted for embezzlement, leaving Olympiacos deep in debt. On the pitch, the team without a serious management went nine seasons without a league title, 1988 to 1996. This period was known as Olympiacos' stone years. It is worth mentioning that 1987-88 was the worst season ever for Olympiacos, as the club finished 8th in the league, playing to avoid the relegation in most of the season.

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