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Customer retention: Maccabi Tel Aviv lost Israel | Israel Today

2022-06-23T07:42:24.331Z


The lust to conquer Europe took over the Zionist ethos On April 7, 1977, the political seeds of the May 17 election coup sprouted, bringing Menachem Begin to power. 40 days earlier, on that evening of April, two earthquakes had occurred - one in the Channel 1 TV studio, and the other in faraway Belgrade. Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister in his first term, already knew what he was going to talk about with his interviewer, Yaakov Ahimair, but was unde


On April 7, 1977, the political seeds of the May 17 election coup sprouted, bringing Menachem Begin to power.

40 days earlier, on that evening of April, two earthquakes had occurred - one in the Channel 1 TV studio, and the other in faraway Belgrade.

Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister in his first term, already knew what he was going to talk about with his interviewer, Yaakov Ahimair, but was undecided about the timing of the announcement.

That evening, Maccabi Tel Aviv, or in its full name then Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, was scheduled to play for the first time in history in the European Champions Cup final against Mobiljiri and Italian Arza, and Rabin, a sensitive man and sports fan who knew the power of Maccabi and knew it was " "State team", did not want his resignation from the prime minister to take over the agenda, and postponed the event after the game.

The end is known.

Maccabi won, Rabin resigned, and when the team returned, 100,000 fans gathered in Kings of Israel Square, not yet Rabin Square - and Uri Zohar, in one of his last performances in the secular world, but already with dangling tassels - hosted the celebration.

45 years have passed, and everything looks different, even at Maccabi, which is starting this summer impoverished by all its titles, without a championship and a trophy in the country, not to mention irrelevance in the European arena.

We live in an age of multi-channel television, and even if there is political instability now, today's Maccabi will not prevent any prime minister from making a dramatic announcement.

Maccabi Tel Aviv basket in deep crisis.

This is not necessarily the complete loss of degrees, but the human damage to the ethos that Shimon Mizrahi inflicted on the club's distinctly "Israeli" identity.

There were always such anchors on the lines - Ralph Klein, Zvika Sharaf, Pini Gershon and David Blatt, on the parquet - "Mikimoti", and then Jamchi, Nadav Hanfeld, Tal Burstein, Omri Caspi and Tifa Danny Abdia, or Tal Brody who did Aliya through the Maccabiah and Ulsie Perry, whose lives were linked to the country's model, Tami Ben-Ami.

But the desire to conquer Europe took over the Zionist ethos, Maccabi built a staff on the purity of foreigners, and along the way lost Israel.

It has reached a state that is no different from that of other European teams, for example the Turkish Anadolu which has now won the Euroleague championship but lost the championship in the country.

The weight of the Turkish players in Anadolu's success is minimal.

Yiftach Ziv was a basketball player this season a year ago.

In the Gilboa Galil uniform, he defeated Maccabi once and almost a second time, and when Maccabi took him to it, she imitated him on the edge of the bench.

Yuval Sussman realized that he had no future at Maccabi, went to Berlin, where he flourished in Alba and helped her this week to bring a German championship to the head of Bayern Munich.

An Israeli basketball player, for whom Maccabi was once a dream, thinks ten times before going to it.

Tomer Ginat, for example, one of the best Israelis there is, chose to sign with Hapoel Tel Aviv, which is not finishing the month.

Once upon a time this would not have happened.

And when there are no Israelis to sign, they bring Oded Katash and David Blatt, faces and names that appeal to the audience, to subscribers.

If there is anyone the decision makers are really afraid of, it is the audience.

Maccabi lost four times this season in the Hapoel derby, and almost lost the fifth, and after one of the losses, Yannis Sapropoulos ceased to be the coach.

Several dozen fans burst into training the next day and protested against the Greek - and it was over.

Maccabi's budget is mainly based on its fans. 350-300 fans who buy a seasonal subscription on the floor, just to be in business and smell the sweat of the players - pay 60,000 shekels for the appointment.

Only those on the parquet bring in about NIS 20 million.

Without them, the club has no financial recovery.

The player Katsch and the coach Blatt may evoke sweet past memories in the fans, but they return to Maccabi by default.

Katsch was rejected when Yannis left, just because Maccabi did not want him on a season-and-a-half contract, and he arrives by default due to the non-arrival of the first favorite, the Spaniard Xavi Pasqual.

Blatt is coming to the position of chairman of the professional committee. It is quite clear that without Blatt Katsch he would not have come, because Maccabi is made of a puzzle, and one of its parts is Nikola Vujicic. Nicola has long been a favorite of David Federman, especially his son Danny and his wife Martin. Beyond the stories of Mooney Fanan, he is the Federman who sees him as a friend and a brother.

* The column is dedicated to the late Arik Brielowski

Aviadp65@gmail.com

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Source: israelhayom

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