The ‘Shipowners’!

It was the dawn of a new era. A change had been in the works for years, but the time had come to implement it. There was no going back, that was clear. Inasmuch as it was also a political element, because the vigorous demands of the footballers’ trade union for better working conditions and institutional safeguards were being voiced ever more loudly and backed up by industrial action (with strikes in 1977 and 1979). At the time, center-left parties were holding discussions with the trade unionists. The conservative side, manifested in the government under Konstantinos Karamanlis, is under pressure, and it acts…

March 1979. The much-vaunted bill for turning the (semi-amateur) clubs of the Greek first division into public limited companies is read in Parliament. With boards of directors, share capital, and—as a sign of goodwill (read: to attract prominent financial movers and shakers)—debt write-offs. The bill is passed. The historic legislation is Law 879/79, and wit it begins a new chapter in Greek football: its professional era.

While some columnists were glibly waxing lyrical about the demise of the “romance that was football”, the new “cynical” reality was already creating massive demands for the clubs. In essence, becoming an FC Ltd was the same as opening a shop or assorted other business. And if the new business was to do well and establish itself, a strong (financially, first of all) main shareholder-cum boss would be needed. Which is all well and good. But who? For Olympiacos, after the glory years with captain Nikolas Goulandris calling the shots, the lack of a business leader of comparable stature had been as obvious as it was costly, as evidenced by four years without a championship, cash flow problems, all sorts of issues.

Inevitably, there was a great deal of pondering going on down by the seaside Olympiacos’ headquarters, until the news broke.

With a share capital ultimately set at 110 million drachmas, divided into 22,000 shares with a nominal value of 5,000 drachmas each, and with 10% going by law to the amateur Olympiacos side, the football Club turns a page in a new era

The ‘scoop’ of the decade

We’re not breaking news here, of course: 45 years after the fact, everyone knows the story. It’s one of those which linger on in the press rooms—the ghosts of “scoops” past. The starring role was played by one of the top Olympiacos reporters of the time, Kostas Mylonas, who was writing for the Apogevmatini at the time. He had an appointment, he wrote, one afternoon in early July with Iraklis Tsitsalis. He was writing a piece on how Greek teams were dealing with all the new requirements being placed on them, and Tsitsalis was both president of Olympiacos and chair of the committee elected by the general assembly of shareholders to manage the process of founding the new company. Its members were Leonidas Theodorakakis, Michail Kouvaris, Andrianos Danos, Christos Marangakis, Dimitrios Spanos and Manolis Tsachilidis. He hadn’t even sat down when members stood up and said, “we’re leaving!”.

He asks: “Where are we going?” The answer was to see guy who’s taking over Olympiacos.

A few minutes later they were at Akti Miaouli 85, on the third floor. Mylonas outside, waiting in the lobby with the photographer. Tsitsalis tells the secretary he’s there. A “come in” later, he heads into the luxurious office and informs a certain Stavros that he’s brought a reporter with him. The news excites a powerful reaction: “What business do I have talking to the papers?” But he convinces him in the end.

The next day a grand “scoop” is published, one of those that actually deserves the label of “exclusive”, which would provide a detailed account of the historic development: moving forward, Olympiacos would be in the hands of a team of shipowners to be headed, as first among equals, by Stavros Daifas. Inevitably, there was many a sigh of relief down by Olympiacos’ Piraeus headquarters.

Born in Kalamata in 1927 into a traditional maritime family of ships’ captains, but raised in Piraeus, Daifas was self-made man and undoubtedly a key div in the post-war shipping community. He wasn’t a member of the “elite club” who owned huge commercial fleets. In fact, in the mid-1970s, Daifas Stavros Marine Enterprise SA consisted of 12 freighters all told, with a total capacity of 117,000 tons. Smart, honest and a talented conversationalist, he described as “a shipowner as comfortable at a high society soiree as he was in a port-side taverna”. He wielded considerable influence in shipping circles through his presence on the board of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS, 1975-82, first as a member, then as a vice-president), a body which also serves as a link between shipowners and state actors.

Tsitsalis knew all that. He was, after all, a director in the National Bank of Greece’s shipping department and he had been friends with Daifas for years. Of course, Daifas was also a lifelong fan of Olympiacos—it once got out that he almost missed his wedding when a Cup game went all the way to a penalty shoot-out! All of which explains why Tsitsalis approached him. It explains the proposal, and possibly the pressure he put on Daifas to take charge.

The gambit

Daifas said no at first. But he would go on to have second thoughts. Considering what the Club could do then and comparing that with the prospects the move to a professional footing could usher in, he accepted. But, given the importance of the task and the accompanying risk, and with a specific concept in mind, he declared he wouldn’t do it alone. There’s power in unity. He pulled it off by means of a… trick. As he tells it, he “baited the hook” at a UGS board meeting. As legend goes, the conversation went something like this:

• The communists want Olympiacos! Of course, this being Piraeus, such a development would affect our shipping, our seafarers. It would mean problems for us!
• So, what do you propose?
• Buying Olympiacos Ltd. from Olympiacos amateur when the shares are offered for sale.

That blindsided them, but in the end, he convinced them. The undertaking would be led by Daifas. However, he’d have a number of others at his side, including some “major players” in Greek shipping: Antonis Chandris, Aristomenis (Menis) Karagiorgis, Miltiadis Marinakis (the late father of the Club’s guiding light today, Evangelos Marinakis), Nikos and Dimitris Nomikos, Stathis Gourdomichalis, Loucas Haji-Ioannou (each of whom could acquire up to a 20% stake). All of them on the board of the shipowners’ union.

On a Friday morning, July 13, is the crucial day. History is made. Barely 24 hours after the “opening” of the share purchase period (July 12-20, the pre-registration for small shareholders had been up and running since the end of June, at the Club). “Without drum rolls and statements to the press, they went to the bank (ed: Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN), 59, Akti Miaouli St. — National Bank, which had been designated for such transactions, was on strike— deposited the money, and took their shares,” press reports of the day wrote.

The consideration was 61 million drachmas, twice the amount that a competing business group, led by former Club president Kostas Thanopoulos, had announced as available. Thanopoulos’ primary “running mate” was Aristeidis Alafouzos, the former president of Panathinaikos, along with Mavroleon, Choulis, Mamalis, Petropouzos, Giannopoulos and others. With the share capital ultimately set at 110 million drachmas, divided into 22,000 shares with a nominal value of 5,000 drachmas each, with 10% going by law to amateur Olympiacos, the parent club, which explicitly held the majority stake.

“They astonished the nation with the move they made yesterday. Top financial players in Greece, they are going to make Olympiacos great,” a newspaper headline blared. Various press reports had earlier referred to other names, which never showed up, the reason why the first publications spoke, non-committedly and vaguely, of a “group of five shipowners”.

Gradually, and while Tsitsalis was rightly declaring his initiative to have been justified (“incorruptible and selfless individuals, of international stature, for whom Olympiacos is a major goal”), other names, with smaller or larger stakes in the Club, would emerge, such as Nikos Efthymiou (president, briefly in 1986, after Daifas’ departure), Nikos Livanos, Michalis Peratikos, Mimis Koutroubousis, Zacharias Kritsas.

Four consecutive championships were won until 1983. This was a new ‘dynasty’, a team that was a reference point after the Goulandris era. This was a flashy team, but a tough roster, indicative of the traits of its home, the port city of Piraeus.

Four in a row…

“We’re going to try and change everything!” This was the doctrine of the “new era”, according to the historic statement Daifas made on that historic first day: July 26, 1979. Starting at home, with a “caretaker” management in place under Tsitsalis until the September elections, when Daifas’ first term as president would officially begin, and Miltiades Marinakis in the post of general manager.

All outstanding debts to the players were settled, a new management chart was introduced (in which Lola Daifa, the wife of Stavros’ cousin, Ionas, would occupy a crucial place down the years), and work began on creating a strong squad. That started out humbly, with the announcement that the young goalkeeper Andreas Tsakmakidis would be joining the club from Missolonghi in the Club’s first ever professional transfer. This continued with targeted moves that made their mark, such as the acquisitions of Novoselac, Kousoulakis, Nikoloudis and Alström in December. Despite the challenges in between (manager Veselinović being replaced by Górski, for instance) it ended up being a total triumph: Olympiacos’ 2-0 victory in a legendary tie-break game against Aris Thessaloniki in Volos to decide the season’s champions, the first professional championship and the first for Olympiacos after six barren years.

By 1983 a string of four championships in a row would be achieved. The team was a legend—the first since the Goulandris years. Not showy, but “tough”. This was a team derived from the port not the penthouses – a true Piraeus team. Several top-caliber players were added down the years, such as goalkeeper Sarganis, Anastopoulos, Mitropoulos, Michos, Orfanos, Gounaris, Estavillo and others.

A careful and trusted management was in place, which despite its “tight-fisted” policy on outlays for player purchases, managed to stage a spirited defense against a behind-the-scenes animosity that was “sharpening its claws” in the face of Daifas’ monumental quip: “You’re all dwarfs before Olympiacos”.

Until 1984, that is. After that, for whatever reasons, it was a different era…