MARTIN BAIN’S RESPONSE TO FINAL LEAGUE FIXTURE
In response to the League Management’s decision this morning with regards to the date and kickoff time of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s final home match against Maccabi Petah Tikva, CEO Martin Bain expressed his anguish in a statement.
“Maccabi Tel Aviv FC is extremely disappointed that there is very little regard to the fact that as a club there should be a recognition of how our success is a benefit to the whole of Israeli football and as such we feel we should be given assistance and not have to deal with such short sightedness. Our initial request and further strong representation to the League Management to play our match earlier than a 20:55 kick-off next Monday night for a number of reasons. First and foremost we have more international players than any other Israeli club and with an important international against Bosnia on June 12th we would have thought that by playing our last match earlier the extra days of rest would have been of enormous benefit to the International coach and his team. If one adds the European qualifiers scheduled for July 13th – 14th and with the players reporting for pre-season training on June 21st and 26th limits their rest even further.
It may seem like 48 hours only but given these players after a long hard season which began in June last season, will now have an even shorter close season the decision does not make any sense. The promotion of Israeli football can be achieved by the success of the clubs in Europe regardless of their identity so to my understanding everything should be done to assist them.
As a Club we feel extremely disappointed about this issue especially as it has happened for the last two years and once again has been ignored. The date (Monday) is not the only issue for the Club looking forward but also the 20:55 kick-off time which now limits our plans for the presentation of the trophy and celebrating the Championship which forces us now to work within a very limited timescale and therefore have to revisit any plans the League Management might have wished to have had”.
