In December 2018, on a winter afternoon before an insignificant cup game against Hapoel Marmorak and a moment after another loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, a group of fans stood outside Sami Ofer and waved signs: "Maccabi Haifa hostage", "You are my world without dawn". The fans also shouted: " We are not afraid of the second league" and "Maccabi is not a business but a family", "Yankelach".
The desperation, the negativity, mediocre coaches who are replaced every few months, with each of them having their fate predetermined as soon as they set foot in Kfar Galim, sports managers who come to teach the natives soccer, take the club backwards and mainly come to make a life in Israel, agents who draw a coupon, foreigners most of whom have no connection to the game , legionnaires that the fans dream of the moment they wear green and crash on the grass in Sami Ofer.
Across the street - Maccabi Tel Aviv has redefined what a healthy and managed football club looks like, Hapoel BS has won championships with one man, Barak in his name.
Maccabi Haifa in those days looked like a club with a glorious past, a murky present and a future with question marks.
There was hardly a single optimist who thought for a moment that on August 23, 2022, on the grass in Belgrade, Maccabi Haifa would return, the one that just three years earlier was seen as the beaten sports team in Israel, from a moment that could break a dream to moments that even this word - dream - would not be able to contain the feelings and emotions broke out and washed everything away.
They washed ten years of frustration, pain, jealousy, anger and sadness that even two consecutive championships did not erase them completely.
Maccabi Haifa fans protest against Shahar in December 2018, photo: Alan Shiver
I wonder if all those who stood there that winter with the signs went crazy with love last night and were happy that their owner, Yankel'e Shahar, did not listen to them.
who brought in the best Israeli coach, who built a professional system that brought in Israelis who gave championships and foreigners, each of whom is a huge hit.
So will you be fine?
Soon Real, Liverpool, Bayern, Milan, Pep, Klopp, Ancelotti, Messi, Holland or Mane will be promoted to the top flight.
That's the bonus.
The club that got lost and wandered in low places is back to being itself, back to being Maccabi Haifa.
And that is the biggest victory.
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