When he took over the reins of the team 14 months ago, most people thought that he would be a temporary solution for PAOK’s bench. However Ivan Savvidis was confident that, in Vladan Ivić, the “Double-Headed Eagle” had found the coach who could lead them to the next, successful day. And he was proved right.

Vladan Ivić became the youngest coach to win a trophy for the “black-and-whites”, has already made the Top-10 of the club’s coaching Hall of Fame and continues his work without big words, aiming to create his own PAOK.

First, he saw to it that PAOK would win last season’s play-offs. He then started to put together a new team with many new faces. He got his reward on his 40th birthday, when he celebrated Greek Cup victory with his troops, the first title to land at Toumba after 14 years. He also guided the “Double-Headed Eagle” to the UEFA Europa League round of 32, while the team’s trajectory in the Super League has been anything but disappointing.

The Serbian tactician of the “Double-Headed Eagle” completed his first full season in the Super League, finishing in second place of the standings, trailing Olympiacos by six points – actually the real distance was just three points.

With Ivić at their helm, PAOK collected 64 points, recording 20 victories, 4 draws and suffering 6 defeats, scoring 52 goals and conceding 19. His team performed excellent football, as acknowledged by football lovers in Greece.

In his 63 matches on PAOK’s bench, Vladan Ivić has a total of 38 victories, 12 draws and 13 defeats.

Read on paokfc.gr what he said to Novasports TV, after it was announced that he was voted Best Coach of the season:

At the start of his football career, did he imagine he would become a coach by the age of 40?

«To be honest… no. When I started out as a player, I never imagined I would become a coach«.

What is tougher? Handling 25-26 players now or handling just himself back then?

«It’s tougher now that I am the one controlling everything and everyone… Being just a player is different. You are still part of a team, but you mostly follow the schedule, the program that the coaching and medical staff prepare for you. That is what we are doing now, on a daily basis. My coaching job now is totally different and entails more work«.

On the club winning their first trophy after 14 years and whether his players are back to… earth, over their hangover and ready for the play-offs:

«A new day has dawned for us and we have worked hard for it. The play-off draw is complete and we have a few days ahead to prepare for a tough schedule. The play-off procedure is quite different than the league. Our upcoming encounters are tough, there are derbies scheduled back-to-back with just three days in between. We are not new to this and we will be ready for the challenge ahead«.

On whether he watched the Greek Cup final again:

«I haven’t watched the whole game, just highlights and the goals. To be honest, I haven’t had the opportunity to watch all 90 minutes, but I will do so in upcoming days«.

On what he remembers most about the final:

«First, let’s start from what happened before the match. We cannot be happy about that, none of us can. Violence needs to stop, it should have been eradicated from football a long time ago«.

Whether he and his players knew what was happening in the stadium as they were approaching:

«We arrived late, because those guiding us to the venue took the wrong turn somewhere. As we were approaching, at a distance of 500-1.000 metres from the stadium, we could see the fighting on that pedestrian bridge around the venue as it was happening. Witnessing such incidents and getting nearer to them is anything but pleasant. We tried to remain focused on the game and arrive as fast as we could to the stadium, because we were already late. We took a different route, with a different bus… Anyway, we managed to get there and asked AEK Athens if the game could kick off a bit later, as it was already 19:30 when we arrived and the kick off was scheduled for 20:30«.

Whether he sensed his players being affected by all that was happening:

«Their focus was off because we arrived late. Our routine is getting at the venue 90 minutes before a game and there is a good reason for it. Before a game –especially such an important game as a final- players need to do specific stuff in the dressing room. Some do massage, others do stretching or other routine stuff… The knowledge, that they would not have time for that, surely messed their focus… I would like to express my gratitude to AEK Athens, for accepting to delay kick-off, as they understood that we were not to blame for arriving late, but it was a problem created by the police’s poor planning. The referees also accepted to delay kick-off, so that we would get time to prepare. I repeat our wish for violence to be eradicated from football. Football should be a feast, an occasion for people to bond. Let this be a valuable lesson, hopefully the last one. Nobody wants to see a Greek Cup final marred by such incidents«.

On whether football people should react at some point and not accept that the final should go through under such circumstances:

«Everyone should assume their responsibilities, everyone involved in football. The clubs and the authorities organizing the Greek Cup final. The police also are responsible, because they handle security matters. Their level of organization should be higher, better, more strict«.

On whether PAOK deservedly won the Greek Cup trophy, taking under consideration their performances throughout the whole season:

«I believe we deserved this success, we worked hard throughout the year. Since the start of the season we were determined, we aimed to win at least one of the two available domestic titles. We deservedly won the Greek Cup and we came closer than ever to winning the league. When the first round of fixtures was complete, we were 9th in the standings, trailing the frontrunners by 17-18 points. We remedied many things in our performances once the second round of fixtures started, we lost only one match, had 2-3 draws and won all the rest. I am not suggesting that we played poorly in the first round, but in some encounters we could have taken more points based on the chances we created and missed«.

Whether it’s tough for a Greek side to negotiate successfully their domestic schedule and their European engagements:

«I agree, it’s tough. Juggling three competitions and having a roster with 12-13 newly-arrived players isn’t easy. Those inside football know exactly what I am talking about. As the season progressed and our schedule became lighter –when our UEFA Europa League engagements were over, that is- our results in the league and the Greek Cup improved. We spent almost the entire season with matches every three days. After getting eliminated by Schalke, the Greek Cup went on and we ended up playing midweek and weekend games for the whole year. Fatigue has kicked in undoubtedly, but we have kept healthy with just one muscular injury on record. Remember last season? We topped the charts with 40 muscular injuries and we hardly had any player left standing to finish the play-offs!»

On the minor miracle of cutting down on the number of muscular injuries so drastically:

«The only two strains recorded were suffered by Djalma Campos. We have changed many things. We replaced almost the entire medical staff. New people are on board and they have helped us immensely regarding post-injury rehabilitation… We have new equipment in our sports centre and our installations are now of the highest level, worthy of a club like PAOK. It’s all about proper organization«.

On the fact that PAOK ended up just three points short of top place in the standings, taking under consideration that they started the season with a three-point deduction. What is still missing? Is the league title his next objective?

«We don’t shy away from the things we demand from ourselves. We all want PAOK to win the league title. We worked hard this season and we will continue doing so in the future… We took a first step. We won the club’s first trophy after 14 years. We finished three points behind the top-placed team and I believe that PAOK’s plan is solid. After many years, PAOK have once again a fine technical director in Ľuboš Micheľ who has helped me a lot in the signings. You know that, after the play-offs ended last season, Mr Savvidis entrusted me with this job. We hadn’t much time in our hands to plan our transfer strategy, but this man had worked ahead and managed to offer me 3-4 options for every position we were in need of a signing. This is team work and I would like to congratulate him and my players who have managed to pull off a very tough season, the medical staff and of course the owner of PAOK, who succeeded in winning his first title with the club after five years of efforts. He has made the team feel secure and able to prove their worth«.

On the toughest moment of the season for him:

«My happiest moment was winning the Greek Cup. There were also some very important games in the season in Europe and in the Super League and we managed to win most of them. For example, in the UEFA Europa League, we had a great game in Italy against Fiorentina –and that win allowed us to advance to the knock-out round after backing it up with a victory over Slovan Liberec at home. Regarding the Super League, prevailing derbies is always morale-boosting and provides the energy for more. That is the path to follow in order to go after bigger achievements. There were also tough moments in the season. Every defeat suffered falls in this category, leaving a bitter taste. Thankfully we didn’t suffer many losses and we were able to get over them with hard work and wins in following matches«.

On whether he feels remorse for things he said or did:

«Of course. You understand that it was actually my first full season on the job and I am a person who wants to say everything as they see them. I never hide, I take responsibility and I guess that some of my statements were rougher than intended. It’s a learning process though… We all make mistakes. Just like the players commit errors on the pitch, just like you can slip up in your work, we coaches also make mistakes. I know that I could have said some things differently, but I stand by everything I said. Perhaps I should have used a different tone. When a match ends, when your pulse is still racing, when you experience a game as intensely as I do, you might say things that you didn’t mean. I must work on that as well and I am confident that I will do better«.

On the award for best coach of the season:

«I am honoured to be voted by fans as the best coach among so many of my peers working in Greece. It’s my first season on the job and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me. Let me also thank all my assistants and of course the players, because without them no such distinction would be possible. I would like to thank the people I worked with in the past and those I am working with now. They are a huge factor of my work and a great responsibility. In this line of work, I get to learn things on a daily basis, getting ideas and they give me the courage to continue and make an effort to improve myself«.