Maccabi Tel Aviv management and players took part in the dedication of a brand new stadium in the city of Or Yehuda. Club CEO Ben Mansford, COO Sharon Tammam together with keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Ofir Davidzada, Eitan Tibi, Cristian Battocchio, Omer Atzily, Vidar Kjartansson and Sheran Yeini were all present to meet and greet the many children who attended the event draped in Yellow & Blue.
Ben Mansford spoke about the club’s recent form: “In football it’s important you don’t get too low even when we had that disappointing performance against Beer Sheva and lately we don’t want to get to high. If you saw Jordi’s comments after the game yesterday, I don’t think you need to say much more, he summed it up. We had some lows this year, took some whacks and criticism, but we stuck together. That’s what we did and it’s important that we continue to stick together. Jordi coined that football phrase, game by game, session by session and week by week and let’s see where we are by late May.”
Favorites going forward?
“If somebody made us favorites, that’s very kind but that’s up to them. The only thing that concerns me is Jordi, Carlos, Dani and the boys get into a huddle at Kiryat Shalom everyday and they train hard and play hard. The league table very rarely lies at the end of the season.”
Additions and subtractions in the January transfer window:
“At the moment I quite like what we got and we have always felt that this was a good squad. We aren’t going to speculate on ins and outs. We always want to be better and look for better as well as improve and we always want to be the best, but ultimately a huge respect to the boys. There was a huge number of changes in the summer and you know better than I as to how many players left and how many came in. But you saw yesterday the togetherness when it was 2:1 and Haifa got the goal against the run of play. We didn’t sit deep and we pushed on and went for the third. We created enough chances that we could have won by a couple.”
More on the transfer window:
Let’s be positive and very respectful to the squad that has stuck together and got themselves to a fighting chance to having a very good season. We’ve won the only silverware so far this year. We will let you know the ins and outs, but I don’t think that January is a good window to do business that effects the long term success of the club. We will do what we need to do if the right things comes up. But again huge respect to the players and staff that are here.”
Contract status of Eli Dasa and Avi Rikan:
“Eli Dasa is here until the end of the season with an option to keep him. Eli knows we will keep him here as long as we can and we have 18 months left. Avi Rikan is up at the end of the season and that’s a statement of fact. Anything about Avi Rikan and Maccabi will be on the Official Website first.”
Chances to improve the squad:
“We always want to improve and strengthen the squad. Right now we have a young, hungry squad and it’s only Barak and Tal who are on the other side of 30 by some considerable margin. If we can change one or two to give us an extra push it’s got to be the right one or two. This is a fantastic group of players. Jordi and the coaching staff are very capable, but our success will ultimately be driven by the players and how they perform.”
Status of Tino Susic:
“I don’t think that it’s fair to assume and I don’t want to talk about any contractual status publicly. I’m sure Tino is disappointed as to how it’s gone and we will talk to Tino and his advisers and I’ll leave it to Jordi to have those football talks. If it’s right for Tino and right for Maccabi, then we would be bound to look at it.”
Or Yehuda:
“It’s really important that we have a President and Sports Minister that are very passionate. Israel needs to improve and it’s been awhile since they have qualified for a major competition and one of the things that the country needs is facilities. When Liat, the Mayor of Or Yehuda said that there is this fantastic new facility and would we help come and launch it and create some publicity for a quality new facility in this very local municipality, we were very keen to come and support it.”
Future stadium plans:
“I know how much the fans value Bloomfield and I know some of the problems that we have in Netanya, some of which we’re from before my time. As a club we are dutifully bound to investigate all of the opportunities that make long term financial viability and commercial success for us. When there is news, we will of course let the fans know first.”
