Storm in the Kingdom with Izzy Sharetzky (Sport 1)
It seems that the relegation of Kiryat Shmona to the national league does not cause sadness among the many football fans (with the exception of the team's fans and residents of the city).
And not because of the fact that they won't have to make the long trip to the end of the world and spend day and night in traffic jams.
The feeling among many in the football world is a kind of: 'that we lived and reached this time'.
About 15 seasons ago, Ironi Kiryat Shmona was relegated to the National League.
So there was great sadness, the feelings were hard, and not only among football fans.
Ironi Kiryat Shmona represented much more than football for everyone.
In many ways it was the team of the country.
It was a combination of a team from a development town that rose to the top of Israeli football in a meteoric way, and not just any development town, a team from a northern city that received endless missiles from Lebanon, and the combination of the new team and the difficult history of the city, caused many of the soccer fans in Israel to make it their second team.
The amazing achievements of the small team from Kiryat Shmona: Championship, State Cup, 4 times winning the Toto Cup and once winning the Champion of Champions, made it a much more legitimate team in the Premier League - by virtue, and not because of mercy due to the difficult history of the city and the great poverty of its residents.
Also the rare story about an unknown person, Izzi Sharetzki, a resident of the center of the country, who decided to turn Kiryat Shmona into a life project, added a lot to the connection and love we all felt for the group from the north.
Izzy Sheretzky signs the tremendous achievements of Kiryat Shmona in Israeli football.
and not only.
Sharetzky invested hundreds of millions of shekels in every area of the city.
in football, education, culture, welfare and health.
Last year, on the 74th Independence Day of the State of Israel, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award committee chose him because of his special contribution to society and the country for many years.
There was a one-man government.
Sharetzky (Photo: Genie Agency)
Sharetzky was (and still is) an incredible and rare philanthropist in every field in the city of Kiryat Shmona, a city that suffered from criminal neglect by the governments of Israel, and he has been for two decades and more, a kind of alternative government in the city.
He established a municipal library in the city, provided residents with dental care, and what not.
Over the years, Sharetsky became Minister of Education, Minister of Health, Minister of Welfare, Minister of Development of the Galilee and Minister of Sports, and above all Minister of Finance.
He is a one man government.
And all from one pocket.
his private pocket.
And believe him - he didn't do it to win publicity and awards.
He saw it as a mission.
His mission and generosity of heart saved many families, and especially prevented many youths in the city from degenerating into crime.
For this, Izzi Sharetzky deserved not only to receive a lifetime achievement award, but also to light a beacon.
But something happened to Izzy Sheretzky on the way, something bad.
From a person who enjoyed consensus in the country (a rare event, no doubt), Sharetzki became a person of disgust (apologies for the definition, but this is the reality) among many football fans, including his own team.
Sharetzki decided (with his mouth) to shatter his paternal image, the image of the good grandfather, the charming personality he sold us, and the desire of many among the team owners to imitate him with his amazing success in managing, discovering and nurturing young talents.
For years Sharetzky was a role model for older team owners and wealthier than him, and he enjoyed every moment.
Also from becoming a media idol.
And there are those who say that over the years, something of this occurred to him.
But in recent years, just like the rise of his team and the incredible devouring of titles, so too has come his crash.
Fast, hard and painful.
Sheretzky made himself an unpopular person (to put it mildly) and his popularity plummeted.
If the private label Izzy Sheretzky had been traded in the stock market in recent years, his stock would have crashed, investors would have abandoned him and he would have immediately received a junk bond rating (except for masochistic coaches who want to continue their professional decline).
The truth is, the story of Izzy Sharetzky is a sad story.
Very sad.
And every day that passes it becomes much sadder.
His statements, his ugly statements, his disdain for people (coaches), his threats against the whole world (coaches, the tax authority, the municipality, the minister of sports, the minister of finance), the ability to open a front in all sectors, made him an avid fan of fights.
His ability, and especially his desire to open up so many fronts every time to fight them, is destroying (some say he has already destroyed) everything he has built over the course of 20 years and more.
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Ben Shimon and Bacher (Photo: Niv Aharonson)
With the exception of the team's fans, no one sheds a tear anymore over the relegation of Kiryat Shmona.
Sharetzky should have retired from Kiryat Shmona several years ago.
He had to retire immediately after winning the Lifetime Achievement Award a year ago.
He could have remained a sponsor, he could have continued to contribute to the team and the city, but he had to completely disassociate himself from the club.
From the moment he lost it, from the moment every interview with him became a sad joke, someone close to him should have rushed and cut him off from the group.
and at the same time prevent him from talking to the media.
The ability to develop a mechanism for self-destruction began long before the grandson became a soccer player in Kiryat Shmona.
It started with the festival of depression in which he started against Barak Becher and Alona Barkat that began about seven years ago, and it developed and intensified with the illusory appointments of coaches and the desire to determine their formations and the method of play, and the peak (we thought it was the peak) was with the dismissal of the coach Benny Ben Zaken on a radio broadcast in the middle of his team's game.
And along the way there were countless more delusional and derogatory statements against Ran Ben Shimon (the first), Gili Landau, Michel Dion, Kobi Yarepa, Sloboden Drapich, Moti Iyonir, Haim Silves, Nir Berkovitch, and many others.
It's hard to decide which of the coaches "earned" him the ugliest behavior, but without a doubt Ben Shimon, Bacher, Ben Zaken and Drapich will go to the Final Four for sure.
He was wronged.
Ariel Sharetzky (Photo: Danny Maron)
He did not invent the obsession that Schertzky developed in favor of the playing minutes that his grandson would receive.
History has taught us that anyone who tried to make his son a soccer star in the team he bought, received a flood of criticism and insults, and he was forced to migrate to other places (with the exception of one - we'll get to him soon).
Meir Shamir, the owner of Hapoel Petah Tikva, received a lot of fire from the fans and the media when his son Guy was in the team.
The protests, the demonstrations, and the harsh criticism from the media as well, caused Shamir the son and the father to leave the group.
The son retired and became a senior figure in his father's large holding company.
Who has heard of Mori Arkin?
One of the richest in the country.
The most anonymous tycoon.
We were all exposed to Mori Arkin when he decided to be the generous sponsor of Hapoel Ramat Gan.
His son Itai was a goalkeeper in the team's squad and became the first goalkeeper.
Arkin Sr. poured a lot of money into the team, Itai Arkin enjoyed a special status with the coaches, was appointed captain, and at the same time received many criticisms from the fans and the media.
The Arkin family insisted, and with me Arkin lifted the state cup after a victory in the final over Kiryat Shmona.
A moment later, the Arkin family left the club.
Like Guy Shamir, Itay Arkin also became a prominent figure in his father's prosperous business.
And who would have believed that the tycoon Amos Luzon would leave Maccabi Petah Tikva in favor of Hapoel Rishon Lezion.
Yes, it happened because his son Omri didn't get playing minutes.
So the father bought him a whole team for him to play.
Some say that an injustice was done to those children of the tycoons.
Injustice on the part of the fans, and also on the part of the media, and that the fact that they were sons of (or grandson), they paid the price.
Maybe.
He didn't know how to manage the event.
Sheretzky (Photo: Danny Maron)
And there was also one who (as usual) made a school for everyone.
to the fans and the media.
Jacky is an old man.
The (unofficial) owner of MS Ashdod was severely criticized for his involvement in the professional affairs of the team, but the main anger was when his son Tom became a player in the senior team.
Continuous criticism in the media began, and mainly an obsession against the son and the father in the local media, and a mass abandonment of the fans from the stands.
But old Jacky knew how to behave.
He didn't open a front against the coaches he signed, he didn't go on the air and open up about his coach, he also didn't care to keep the affair on the agenda.
He knew how to manage the event perfectly.
Was it because of choosing a suitable coach?
Was it because the new coach found something in Ben that others didn't?
Or did his son develop and become an actor?
And maybe both and both.
Izzy Sharetzky, unlike Jacky Ben Zaken, did not know how to properly manage the event in the case of his grandson Ariel.
Maybe it's the age, maybe it's the wrong choice of coaches, and maybe the grandson is not suitable for the Premier League.
And maybe both and both.
Those who know the grandson say that he was wronged.
It is possible.
It is possible that the coaches he himself brought in wanted to cover up their failures elsewhere and save their careers at his expense.
Maybe.
Maybe we will do an injustice to the grandfather's shrecki.
But what is certain is that the owner and grandfather Sheretzky did irreparable damage to himself, his team, and especially his grandson.
And it's a shame.
In a reformed country (as if we are a reformed country) Izzy Sheretzky would have been given the coveted prize he won a year ago on Independence Day: recipient of the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
The late Yonatan Geffen said that a person receives an award for his actions and not for his opinions and statements, so Izzy Sharetzki definitely has a place of honor in the hall of fame of Israeli football and the city of Kiryat Shmona and he deserves every award, but it is better for him to realize the last statement he made at the end of the relegation game against Nes Ziona - to leave the team and financially support only the youth team. For his own good, and for the good of his legacy - this time he must honor his statement.
sport
Israeli soccer
Super League
Tags
Izzy Sheretzky
Urban Kiryat Shmona