Shai Holtzman: "In today's football, our Maccabi Haifa was much bigger" - voila! sport

Summary: Hapoel Tel Aviv - Maccabi Haifa 1:0 (Sport1)

If you look at the table of the ten greatest scorers in the Premier League, Shay Holtzman (49) beats Kish Romano by points in the ranking of the greatest scorers of all time.

The reason they are like that - Romano with 192 goals and Holtzman with 169 - is that they starred in fringe teams and hardly made a statement in the national team.

Unlike Romano, Holtzman took his life a few steps forward, joined hands with Eli Lahav - the owner of Hapoel Beer Sheva during the 1997 cup period, long before Alona's explosion - and stepped into the world of real estate. Far from football, far from the common fate of most footballers The past that didn't think one step ahead and developed a second career.

"From a very young age I've been doing two things at the same time," he explained to us this week. "At the age of 22 I bought my first investment apartment.

I've been looking for investments all my career, including starting businesses and when I finished football it's what gave me a lot of knowledge - not deep - in many fields.

This is also what allowed me to succeed with Eli Lahav in the next phase of my life."

Holtzman, a typical Rahava pioneer, is busy with other squares today: he is a managing partner in a company that deals with urban renewal, he manages projects for TMA 38/2 in the most desirable places in Tel Aviv, close to Sheinkin and close to the port. "If we reach an earthquake situation," he throws With the required caution, a tip, "There are many buildings in Tel Aviv and in other places as well that are very old and have difficult risks."

"I watch soccer.

In the Israeli league, I see interesting games at the top, such as Maccabi Haifa.

I follow from time to time."

"I'm busy with other things, there focus on other things that are more relevant today to my life, my future and my work."

busy with other things.

Shai Holtzman (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishai)

27 years in real estate, you recognized it early.

"There were periods when real estate did not go up, but looking back 30 years, real estate always went up.

10-20 years into the future I see real estate continuing to rise. What determines is the parameter of the start of construction or the supply of new apartments against the natural growth of our country. Right now the growth is greater. Over time real estate will rise." Did you study? University

"I studied all the way, and everything from the field.

I invested in business, opened and closed.

I joined purchase groups, also commercial.

Where I saw an opportunity, I entered.

Some I succeeded, some less so.

All in all, I studied."

"I'm not complaining, I'm fine. The big problem for the majority is generating income after the sports career. Even if people played in the NBA, fifty-sixty percent of them went bankrupt. This is a factual average and these are people who earned much more than athletes earned. A football player falls What an abyss that is very difficult to get out of. He has no experience in business, he has no experience in almost anything that the market expects. A person has to support himself for another 50 years after retirement and what he earned in football is usually not enough."

"Eran Zahavi is not a good example because he has earned money even if he does less or invests, he is quite organized. But he also understands that in the end you have to invest correctly and prepare yourself for the next day, that you will also have an interest and a reason to get up in the morning as well as a livelihood."

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"A person has to support himself another 50 years after retirement and what he earned in football is usually not enough."

Holtzman (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

Holtzman played a year and a half for Maccabi Haifa, and he scored the goal that lifted them to the round of 16 of the European Cup for Cup Holders in October 1993. At MS Ashdod, he became the goalscorer, and there he also ended his career, in the place where he settled.

On Saturday they meet each other, a good opportunity to drag Holtzman a bit into the world where he became more famous.

"To crown Maccabi Haifa is still impossible because the gap is very small," he said, "but I think they are better than Hapoel Be'er Sheva. In a playoff like this, a lot depends on momentum and things can change. Right now it seems that Maccabi Haifa has pretty much gotten over the crisis it was in and Be'er Sheva is on momentum." Good. If Maccabi Haifa makes the playoffs the way it has been playing for the past two months, it may not take the championship. If you have to evaluate the chances, I would give them more chances."

"Because when Maccabi Haifa is in shape and playing well, then it is the best."

"I think the team of 93/4 was more talented, but today's football has changed, there are a lot of tactics, reports and all the worlds. The work ethic is higher, the technology of the work, the understanding of the work. Players work on the field in a different way than they did 30 years ago If the players of that time were today, with all the technologies, then they would be better than those of today. Football today is faster and more physical. If the player is not fast and agile and dynamic, it is more difficult for him. There used to be players who were less like that and more successful. In other words, Our Maccabi Haifa, in today's football, was much bigger and today's, in the football of that time, would have found that it was less talented."

There is nothing to compare with the 1993/94 team.

Holtzman in Maccabi Haifa uniform (photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

Why didn't you stay?

"What has led me throughout my career is that I wanted to play. When I arrived young at Maccabi Haifa it was clear to me that I was going to be a bench player and when I wanted to progress and play, I moved to Zafarir Holon. It was a very correct way of thinking because in the end, there is nothing like playing regularly, promoting yourself. When you look at my career, I've been more suited to small teams than big ones."

"Because it was important to me to play 9, and as a 9 player at least for the most successful part of my career, in Ashdod, I was very dominant offensively and most of it was built on me. I could move where I wanted because I had space and could create places for myself to receive the ball, which in a bigger team Harder, more crowded. It probably suited him better."

"I was neither a fast nor a slow player. I was a bit clumsy, but I had a strong first step, I knew my minuses and my pluses and I knew how to take advantage of it against defensive players. Even though I didn't have a good head game and wasn't fast or agile, I succeeded."

"Also intelligence, also an understanding of where I have values ​​that I can improve and be better. My focus was on creating opportunities for either cooking or kicking and I was always thinking about the best action I would take to reach the goal as quickly as possible. I was constantly working on my finishing And overall, on average, I pretty much took chances. I didn't need 10 chances to score a goal."

"First of all training. The more times you repeat what you do, you get better. I could score dozens of goals in training, I was focused on where I was kicking, I never kicked for nothing. In the game I was already trained for the opportunity and I would do it better than the others Like Itzik Zohar, who used to finish training with 50 free kicks. What set me apart was my ability to score goals and that came a lot from the fact that I was focused on every action that would lead me to a goal. I would work on it in training and I also loved, to be honest, scoring goals. Even if I scored 10 goals in training, I wouldn't do anything impractical, jump or heel, but look for the 11th goal. Not easy to be simple."

"I was focused on where I was kicking, never kicking for nothing" (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

So as a leading scorer, who is a better scorer, Alon Mizrahi or Eran Zahavi?

"They are both great scorers. They are different, but I think Eran Zahavi is one of the greatest that ever existed in the country. I look at him and I see the Israeli Ronaldo. It is very difficult to reach every game with a level of hunger and a maximum level of sharpness in every game. It is something not easy and when I see him, he Does it and it's amazing to me, and he's a crazy winner. It doesn't detract from Elon Mizrahi."

"I look at it a little differently. There is a coach for the team and a professional manager and they probably decided that they are building a new team and see the future of the team without Eran Zahavi, and this is their right even though he is the best player in Israel. If the professional team decides that he is not suitable, for any number of reasons, then It's OK".

"My view is more long-term and not necessarily success in the first campaign. How to build a team for a few good years that can go up. Long-term thinking is something that does not exist much in the country, it is found in several large clubs in Israel, such as Ashdod and Maccabi Petah Tikva that invest in young people Over time. It takes time but it's worth very much. You can see familiar players from Ashdod and Maccabi Petah Tikva."

"Since 1970, with all the talk and all the great players, we haven't been able to achieve anything and when I look from this place, I say that it is not certain that taking the players because they are good that day in order to produce a victory or success in a certain campaign is the right thing. Perhaps it is more correct to rejuvenate the team and look 10 years ahead and produce something different. Long-term construction wins. Every coach comes and wants to succeed today and not build something for another two years and that's a problem, both in the teams and in the national team."

"The Israeli Ronaldo".

Zahavi (Photo: Danny Maron)

So teams that insist on their coach for many years, is this the way?

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the way. You see the status of the coach and see where he's reached. It doesn't help either the coaches or Israeli football. If there's a good person you believe in, you'll build something long. Will replacing a coach every year bring success? Probably not. Barak Becher In my opinion, he is one of the best coaches who have been here in history, if not the best."

"I see what he does, what he did in Beer Sheva and also in Maccabi Haifa. He came to clubs that did not bring titles for a long time, I see his reactions, behavior - in difficult times and good - I see results, and I see how his teams know how to play attack. Teaching attack is the best It's difficult for me, and he has it. He's a coach of big teams. There are coaches who are less suited to big teams."

"Ran Ben Shimon can also coach large teams. He is a professional at a very high level and I have no doubt that he will be successful for a long time."

"I like very much. There is Jacky, an old man there who has been leading the system for decades and he is a cannon, knows his job, knows how to raise young people. He has patience. He gives time for the right processes and I see that Ran fits in perfectly with him. What's more, they They can take a trophy in any year, but I don't see them taking a significant title. For such a title, you need a lot of money, to bring in suitable players. For Ashdod to reach the top playoffs from time to time, sell players and play well, it's amazing."

"You watch football, you can't really tell, but there is no doubt that the priority is for Maccabi Haifa. They are getting in good shape and the game depends on them. If they play the way they know how to play and play attack properly, I estimate that they will win. The game does not depend on Ashdod. They can To come and get a good result, but the game depends more on Maccabi Haifa. If there are two teams that play open, it gives even more priority to Maccabi Haifa in my opinion."

"A very high level professional."

Ben Shimon (Photo: Barney Ardov)

Holtzman's success in business management necessitated the question of what he would have done if he had been given the chance to manage football in Israel.

"The first issue I would take care of is the youth departments," Mead said.

"Most youth departments work according to results and not according to processes. There are many combines there. The purely professional issue is not what leads in many places. The coaches in the youth departments are not good enough. I would take all the former players and put them in the youth departments, building processes over time. In the end Speaking of which, players grow up in teams, and in most clubs it doesn't work in the best way. Maybe I would turn it into academies like they did in Germany. When we were kids we would play either in a team or on the street and today it is less common."

"I remember that when I was a child, I would take two buses, walk another 20 minutes to get to practice. Today, everyone is afraid of their child leaving the house. When I look down, I see the gap between us and Europe is growing, not shrinking. The soccer culture in Israel is not the same to Europe. Soccer is not three teams and four clubs, it is much broader. The main mass of soccer in the world is not in the big clubs, and that is exactly the weakness of our soccer."

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