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"For me, it's like the twin disaster": Hapoel Petah Tikva's greats are trying to digest the decline

"Can you imagine that Maccabi Tel Aviv or Maccabi Haifa will be relegated to the first division?

"It's imaginary," says Eli Mahfoud. "People who do not understand football have made decisions," adds Benny Kozushvili. "In my darkest dreams, I never imagined that this would happen," concludes Nir Levin. And how do you rebuild the empire? Not everyone is optimistic

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• Hapoel Petah Tikva

• Eli Mahfud

• Nir Levin

Yaniv Tuchman

Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 7 p.m.

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"One of the hardest days of my life."

Mahfud (Photo: Meged Guzni)

"It's a sporting disaster. One of the hardest days of my life," Eli Mahfoud sighed last night (Tuesday) minutes after Hapoel Petah Tikva was officially relegated to the first division for the first time in its history.

Mahfoud played 17 years in the seniors of Hapoel Petah Tikva.

Did not leave anywhere.

Was the last to lift the state cup the team won in 1992.

"This is a terrible month. This decline joins the death of our friend Manny Besson and it is very difficult. I am in a storm of emotions. All my life this is Hapoel Petach Tikva. I do not know another team."

Where did you see the game against Hapoel Afula?

"I sat at home. I did not have the strength to go to the stadium. Hapoel Petah Tikva came to this game in the last round when it was not independent and I did not want to see the plays of the relegation in the stadium. Hapoel Petah Tikva did not go down today. The team did not prepare properly for this season. "Even when the team won in recent weeks, it did not know how to take more than 4 points against the teams against which it fought against relegation. This is the blow. We barely scored goals, so Hapoel Petah Tikva went down even before the last round."

But you had hope.

"Certainly. There is always hope, certainly when it comes to a club like Hapoel Petah Tikva. It is not conceivable to say that Hapoel Petah Tikva will play in the first division. This is a club that has won five consecutive championships in Israeli football. You can guess that Maccabi Tel Aviv or Maccabi Haifa will be relegated to the first division. "This is an imaginary scenario. We thought the same about Hapoel Petah Tikva. The club has been ticking in recent years, but over the years Hapoel Petah Tikva has been a scary team."

Maybe the drop will do well?

"Bringing the team back to the National League is not the main task. You have to do deep plowing in the whole club from the bottom up. Take good care of the youth department. You have to bring in high-level professionals. You have two and a half home players in the National League today. Is there such a thing? On a picture of Hapoel Petach Tikva from the time of Abram Grant. We were 90 percent home players in the team. This decline is not the result of a momentary crisis, but of a continuous and most delusional collapse that people treated as if they were in the youth movement of the Scouts. We will lose, win, not terrible. "This club should always strive to be in the top. The failure is professional and managerial together."

Do you want to return to any role next season?

"We came at the beginning of the season with some past players like Eitan Bodniuk, the late Manny Besson, Oz Elia and I and offered to help.

We said we would help because the association has no experience.

After all, I coached in the national league and I was willing to work even without money.

We explained to them what was being done.

We were told okay, we will get back to you and to this day have not returned.

Tonight at the end of the game we texted some past players and we are not digesting.

What will become of Hapoel Petah Tikva?

I grew up in the club and retired in the club and I hope that more beautiful days will come.

Mutual accusations are already history.

Now one has to go in strong and build things within the youth department.

It's a huge club with fans.

The club has a base, strength and power and we need to recruit some businessmen and I promise that we are past players and we will help and we will not need any financial compensation.

People are already telling jokes that maybe Hapoel Mahane Yehuda will be promoted to the first division and there will be a derby.

God will keep us where we are. "

More on Walla!

Eyal Berkowitz was furious: "They will investigate the goal of Kfar Qassem. If it is legal, I will come down like a man."

To the full article

More on Walla!

• National: Hapoel Petah Tikva was relegated to the first division for the first time in history

• Shlomi Dora: "A character assassination is done to a cut sound, there is something disgusting about it"

• Kiryat Shmona - Maccabi Haifa: Barak Bachar "Wants to make the crowd happy"

• Attack Yourself: What is comprehensive insurance and when is it critical?

"This is a club that has won five consecutive championships in Israeli football. Can you imagine that Maccabi Tel Aviv or Maccabi Haifa will be relegated to the first division?"

Anar Schechter (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)

Bnei Kozushvili did not come to the colony last night either. The result was clear to him more than two weeks ago. "I prepared myself for the descent even before Operation Wall Guard," he said last night. "The missiles from Gaza postponed the end in two weeks but that's it. It has arrived."

Did you not have expectations for the last cycle?

"Absolutely not. I played in this league for a while and I know that what needs to happen in this league is happening. I knew there was no chance that Acre and Umm al-Fahm would lose points. This relegation is the end of a pre-determined chronicle. Everything is managed from the waist. People who do not understand football have made decisions. "Such a team is people who understand football and are not fans with all due respect."

Hapoel Petah Tikva in the first division. Can you digest?

"It doesn't work in my head. This sentence doesn't work. For me it's like the twin disaster."

Is love so great?

"I was born blue. I will die blue and my blood is blue. We are three brothers who grew up in the club and played in the club. My first home is Hapoel Petah Tikva. I will not get used to this decline."

To the extent that?

"What a question. I am so identified with Hapoel Petah Tikva that it will not leave me for much longer. From age 6 to age 34 I am in this group. My older brother was 20 years old and my younger brother 20 years. Together our family for more than 60 years at Hapoel Petah Tikva "Every corner of the country identifies me with Hapoel Petah Tikva. This team swept fans from every corner of the country and I did not even know when I played how many fans we have everywhere in the country."

Will Hapoel Petach Tikva return to being the big team of Bnei Kozushvili?

"She can come back but it will be very difficult. In the first division it will be more difficult. It was very difficult for me to play there. More than in the Premier League."

Eyal Berkowitz does not accept the decline and claims that it is not kosher.

"Berkowitz blames Kfar Qassem. Umm al-Fahm blames Nazareth and if Hapoel Petah Tikva had stayed, everyone would have blamed Afula. No one sees his own hump. Everyone knew that was what would happen. We are not in England. We do not have England here. "The culture of their football. When I coached children, I tried to instill in this spirit of sports, but unfortunately it does not exist in Israeli football. Whoever needed the points took them."

"No one sees his own hump."

Bnei Kozushvili (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Between 1984 and 1993, Nir Levin played for Hapoel Petah Tikva. With the exception of one season in Belgium, he was a key part of the team during that period, which did not win the championship, but was very close to doing so. "It's a sad day," Levin said last night. "I sat down to watch and was saddened and today I am anxious about the fate of this club."

The club is part of you even though you've been through so much since you left.

"Do not forget that I also coached the team after I left as a player for four different terms. We have a joint WhatsApp group of Hapoel Petah Tikva veterans and we play together. I live the club to this day and it hurts."

Did it occur to you that Hapoel Petah Tikva can be relegated to the first division?

"I did not think that Hapoel Petah Tikva could go down under the national league. In my darkest dreams, I did not believe that Hapoel Petah Tikva would reach the first division."

How do you rehabilitate the club?

"This is a club with a infrastructure of fans. Maybe Meir Shamir will return. Maybe others will come and the team will return to where it should be. Hapoel Petah Tikva should return to the national league soon and then to the Premier League. In the hope that it will happen in a few years. See how the team is returned to the national team. "

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