Angelos Anastasiadis
“Someone called me before the match and told me that I should wish ‘Christ is Risen’ to everybody in my press conference. I will end on that note and I hope that PAOK will rise, as they head down a tough road. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I should be happy or sad about what happened today, since I am ignorant of what will happen tomorrow. I don’t know what will happen to the club come July. The huge dynamics of PAOK fans are sleeping and dreaming”. The state of uncertainty marked the press conference of Angelos Anastasiadis after PAOK won the Greek Cup in the final of Toumba Stadium in May 2003.
By leading PAOK to their fourth Greek Cup, Anastasiadis became the only one to celebrate trophies with the “Double-Headed Eagle” both as player and as coach. His faith in the team’s potential, his efforts to rally the team and keep them focused on the objective permitted PAOK to remain close to the top and ultimately win the Greek Cup, despite facing acute administrative and financial problems.
Angelos Anastasiadis’ second spell at PAOK began in the summer of 2002, at a very tough time for the club. He remained at Toumba until autumn 2004. His first spell had started in February 1997 and ended exactly two years later.
Giorgos Georgiadis
He was voted “MVP of the final” by journalists, not only because of his goal –a goal he qualified as “easy”. “After so many years spent on the pitch, I possess the experience to net such goals”, Giorgos Georgiadis said. He admitted that the team were under stress because it was a Thessaloniki derby, regardless of PAOK’s theoretical superiority. “We were stressed, as it was a PAOK vs Aris match and everybody was talking about it as if it were a matter of life or death. We knew that, had we lost at Toumba, we would have a tough time”. Apart from the winning goal in the final, he also netted in the two quarter-final legs against Olympiacos.
When asked to compare the two trophies won at PAOK, Georgiadis had no problem picking his favourite: “The first trophy is always more important. Furthermore, we were playing in Athens and faced the reigning champions”. The 2003 silverware was the fifth Greek Cup of his trophy cabinet, after seven finals played with Panathinaikos and PAOK. A week later, he scored against PAS Giannina to seal his first spell at the “Double-Headed Eagle” with one goal and an assist. In his four seasons at Toumba, he won two Greek Cup trophies. After spells at Olympiacos and Iraklis, he returned to PAOK in January 2007 to hang up his boots there.
Giannakis Okkas
PAOK acquired him in the summer of 2000 and he managed to win the Greek Cup twice, in his first and last seasons at Toumba. His account of 40 goals in 126 matches for the “Double-Headed Eagle” opened in a Greek Cup game -on 19 August 2000, he came off the bench to score in PAOK’s away 6-1 thrashing of Ampelokipi- and ended in the Toumba semi-final against AEK in 2003. He had paved the way towards qualification in the Nea Filadelfia leg, bursting down the left flank and setting up Giasemi for the only goal of the encounter. In the Thessaloniki tie, he leveled for PAOK in the 87th minute and spared them of an extra time.
His input was equally significant in the quarter-finals against Olympiacos, as he scored in both legs. At Toumba he made it 3-1 for PAOK in the 88th minute, giving them a two-goal cushion ahead of the Rizoupoli match. He was on target there as well, netting the visitors’ second goal just two minutes after Giorgos Georgiadis had broken the deadlock. He left PAOK in the summer of 2003, after three full seasons and two Greek Cups. He spent one season at AEK and then had a three-year spell at Olympiacos, before returning to Cyprus.
Dimitris Markos
He joined PAOK in the summer of 2002 after two seasons at archrivals Aris. A midfield linchpin and a regular in Angelos Anastasiadis’ line-ups, his contribution in the team’s winning Greek Cup campaign was emphatic. He played in 10 of the 11 matches in the competition that season and scored once: he made it 2-0 in the 3-1 victory over Olympiacos in the Toumba quarter-final. His official debut for PAOK came in a Cup match against Leonidio at Peloponnisos –he played for 55 minutes before leaving the pitch substituted by Egomitis.
He stole the ball outside Aris’ box and fed Giorgos Georgiadis who went on to score the winner in the final –one of Markos’ finest moments in the competition that showcases his role in the Greek Cup triumph.
That season was the fullest of his career. He scored twice in 41 matches for PAOK, all competitions included. He remained at PAOK until January 2005. He then joined Thrasyvoulos, where he played for six months before deciding to retire from football. He accumulated 62 appearances for PAOK and scored 4 goals.
