Hapoel Jerusalem Model 2022/23 came out of the last summer completely different from the team, which got off the floor defeated in the Hafis Arena in the third game of the playoff semi-final series.
The Jerusalemites saw their rival, Hapoel Holon, skip past them on their way to the finals to win the state championship.
For the fans, the revolution that the team went through on the floor - during which all the foreigners were replaced and a completely new team was built, of which only Itai Segev and Noam Dovar remained the only remnants - is the significant change.
At the same time, for the managers, the organizational change that the club went through behind the scenes is much greater.
In recent months, the group's CEO Guy Harel and the group's manager David Bassan parted ways in the capital - two who were the backbone of the system, significant screws that steered the ship throughout the last decade, and have now left their positions.
Yonatan Alon.
He had already coached the team in the previous term, Photo: Photo: Maor Alxalsi
Throughout the summer months, at the same time as the selection of Aleksandar Dzikic, the capital was looking for a figure to fill the role of Harel.
The CEO who will serve as the strongest man in the club for the past nine years was entrusted with the day-to-day management but matured for him as a players' agent over the years he also entered the slot of the actual professional manager.
Harel's role in the club was divided into two, the administrative side of the organization was given to the incoming CEO Yuval Levisman and on the professional side they were looking for a figure in the capital who would serve as a professional manager in practice. The name of Yonatan Alon, a Jerusalemite by birth and birth and one who went through all the training groups in the club from the youth to the coach of the senior team He came up already in the summer, but his contract in the Upper Galilee along with the family's desire to remain as one unit left him in the north and prevented the move from coming to fruition.
A few months have passed and the precarious financial situation of the group from Kfar Blum had an effect and allowed Hapoel's move to leave.
Alon made his way back to the capital and someone who knows the system like the back of his hand quickly gets into things.
Along with continuous contact with agents and knowledge of the player market, which allowed him to sign Brandon Brown, the professional manager works on a number of other fronts that will influence and shape the club in the years to come.
Alon with Halperin.
something new in the air,
The first thing he marked for himself was to increase the investment and resources to strengthen the youth department and integrate its graduates into the adult group.
As someone who coached there himself, Alon knew that the youth department of Hapoel Jerusalem, one of the largest and oldest in Israeli basketball, produces quite a few graduates who play in the Premier League, but not for the parent team from the capital.
One of the possibilities she brought up is the purchase of young and talented players and their inclusion in the club's youth teams.
"Our youth department is an excellent department whose graduates are there and play in the Premier League. We want players who grew up with us to play with us. We want homegrown players here and one of the options we are considering is to sign sixteen-year-old players in whom we recognize potential directly to our youth department," Alon noted in an open meeting that the team held for the fans.
Yonatan Alon.
This is his time, photo: Hapoel Jerusalem
The second issue that occupied Alon was the creation of long-term professional work plans based on the signing of players and a professional skeleton that will run together for several years, as he tried to do in Upper Galilee, even if this involves giving up several candidates who insist on a one-year contract only.
"I am a big believer in continuity, at the professional level, in order to create special professional value for the group, this is a process that takes several years," said Alon.
"The connection of the players is a great force multiplier in my view, and it also takes several years. I see a great advantage in creating continuity. Without a doubt, the main thing for me is to make long-term moves, and this is also where the coaching staff comes in, which is a significant part of the process. The intention is that towards the end of the season, we will know how the team It should be seen in the next three to five years. I believe that there should be between 5-6 players who run here for several years, but that also has a price. If there is an excellent player who agrees to come for one year, it is not certain that we will agree because it does not fit the process we want to do."
The third topic in the work plans talks about the Israeli market.
During Uri Alon's days in the capital, the owner made sure to reiterate the mantra that according to him the best Israelis should play for Hapoel Jerusalem and accordingly Yotam Halperin, Lior Eliyahu, Bar Timur and others were signed to long-term contracts.
In the last few years since the owner left and in accordance with the trend in the entire league, the capital also reduced the investment in the Israeli skeleton, and this is what Alon wants to change in the future.
Hapoel Jerusalem players.
Building precisely on the younger generation, photo: Liron Moldovan
"I believe that a quality Israeli base is what determines the mood in the club. A foreigner who lands in Israel and enters the dressing room should feel that there is a code of conduct and a way of working at the club. All thinking should be based on the Israeli player. Hapoel Jerusalem in my opinion was good when the best Israelis in the league played for it and I think That's where we need to go back to," Alon shared.
In the last few weeks, the team from the capital is in a wonderful momentum and has recorded eight victories from its last nine games.
Alon's plans will have an impact on the Jerusalem horizon, but in order to succeed already this year in the European arena and advance to the next level, the Reds will have to prevail tonight against the German Ludwigsburg.
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