Take for example, the fact that I had already fashioned this blog entry a mere few days ago. The reason it didn’t turn up then? An Offside blogger’s nightmare: namely not bothering to continually “Save” the article on Wordpress due to a misplaced self-confidence in not accidentally navigating away from the page and losing the hard-earned work of a solid 10-15 minutes.

For yours truly in particular and his notoriously unstable forearm work, it was an ill-advised move that ended up bringing about an indescribable feeling of frustration and eventually, depression, as I somehow contrived to click on a link to another website despite it being nowhere near the work I was doing (note to self: save more often and generally don’t touch mouse…ever…)

It’s not the first time that it’s happened – I dedicated one of my earlier blogs to the event, thinking that the phenomena deserved a mention – but every time it does happen, it deserves a mention; we Offsiders are a tough breed.

In any case, the focus of my article revolves around three happenings:

1. A midweek Europa League defeat to Belarusian outfit BATE Borisov that saw the side’s two nominal centre-backs sent off with next-to-no cover for them (sterling work gentlemen) ahead of a return clash against the same side that will deide our fate in Europe this season (i.e. whether we progress to the knockout stages and get pummeled, or whether we remain in the group stages and get pummeled). Conditions that were probably more conducive to an illegal drug operation in a tropic jungle didn’t help the cause, Sebastian Saja’s goalkeeping suffering and ultimately costing us three valuable points. The reality though is that AEK simply aren’t good enough for Greece, let alone Europe, this season.

2. As if to highlight the relative unimportance of the club in its current state, a November league clash at home to Larissa was cancelled to make way for a Beyonce Knowles concert. Personally I don’t see the appeal or any particular musical talent, despite the weight of Kanye West’s expert pop-cultural opinion, but the reality of the situation is that the closet Beyonce fans in AEK’s hooligan firm Original 21 will probably get more value for money than at any other point this season if they happened to accidentally “find their way” into her show claiming that they were unaware of cancellation of the match.

3. American businessman Robert Kozonis (already nicknamed “Bob The Builder”) who has made his fortune in construction, is now set to take over the club and address its financial woes. He seems to be the closest thing to a saviour that the club has been so desperately craving over the past 12 months. An official announcement should be made about his takeover on Monday.

I’ll leave you with an inspiring video of Dusan Bajevic being sent to the stands by virtue of his part-Greekness against Bate:

But on this occasion, it seems to serve my ‘journalistic’ purposes perfectly. One definition of “AEK” it gives is thus:

second team in Athens, way after Panathinaikos
Gate 13 hools killed those AEK pussies

Add Olympiakos into the mix and push AEK down to third and you have the comprehensive description of a joke of a football side.

Why the sudden impassioned rant you ask?

It was only a few days ago that a wave of optimism flooded fan forums following a surprising 1-0 win at home to the in-form Benfica in the Europa League, temporarily banishing recent memories of consecutive defeats at home against rivals Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.

48-or-so hours later and I find myself roused at the hour of 3am, with just under two hours of sleep and preparing to wake for work at 10 am, about to watch what is quite possibly the most diabolical performance of any football team that I have followed during my 19 years on this planet.

The opposition? Xanthi.

Don’t know who they are? Most Greeks probably don’t – but they outplayed a visiting AEK outfit seemingly devoid of any desire to win the match and – and this is most important – without any empathy for the tired carcass that dragged itself out of bed to watch them at the most un-Godly of hours.

The farcical nature of the goal epitomized an evening of football that was about as engaging as re-runs of “Friends” (Quite possibly the worst comedy/sit-com in the history of broadcasting) and one that was, according to a few of the members of a fan forum that I frequent in an attempt to find an outlet for my considerable anguish, representative of some sort of overriding conspiracy theory whereby AEK are denied a fair chance at success by Olympiakos.

The harsh reality is that this is a football club in steady decline and one that can, for the moment at least, no longer be called a giant of Greek football.

At least if they played at a decent hour I wouldn’t lose so much sleep over them (literally).

Aside from the bad luck and conspicuously poor decisions, AEK never really looked like winning the game despite having played the better football for most of the match.

Football fans will be familiar with the feeling associated with watching their side “dominate” proceedings, missing chances that will clearly prove costly later in the game – and that was exactly the case here.

Yes, there were encouraging performances from the likes of Nemeth and Roger Guerreiro – who look astute signings by Bajevic – but it simply wasn’t enough given the clear lack of quality in defence and the relative resources at the disposal of Zico (who now occupies the Olympiakos dug-out after the comical departure of Temuri Ketsbaia).

Kyrgiakos’ departure has signalled the end of any title hopes AEK might have had this season and the lack of investment in the wake of his move to Liverpool has been puzzling and frustrating, the product of which was seen at the OAKA Spiros Louis in midweek.

Next up? Panathinaikos and is surely a must-win game, if not for any title challenge, then for morale.

Whether there is enough quality to do so remains to be seen – in the meantime, I’ll console myself and try to make sense of it all with conspiracy (all of which are welcome from readers of this blog).

Apart from his recollection of an away win over Derby, from past conversations I seem to remember that AEK generally haven’t fared that well against the Poms away from home in particular.

A run to the Semi Finals of the-then UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (UEFA Cup/Europa League) in the 1976-77 season did include a memorable victory over a famous Queens Park Rangers outfit and a victory at Goodison would surely go down in the history books, particularly if it sparks a successful campaign on the continent.

The stage is certainly set and whilst yours truly isn’t filled with a great deal of confidence, problems at the back have besieged a struggling Everton in the English Premier League this season.

Despite the fact that David Moyes’ side still have the quality to convincingly bury the Athenians, wily AEK manager Dusan Bajevic should head into this match confidence in the knowledge that he has technical quality in attack and that the Toffees are likely to rest key players as they look to get their domestic campaign back on track.

If ever there was a time for a big result in England, now would appear to be it. I’ve almost forgotten what Europe tastes like after the shambles that was last season…

The first leg of the QPR game:

The second leg:

The away win over Derby:

For the Spaniard appears to have blessed AEK with one of the most exciting players in the Greek Super League in Hungarian prodigy Krisztian Nemeth, who made an immediate impact on debut for the Athenians in their season-starting win at Atromitos.

Coming off the bench in the 29th minute, he linked up encouragingly with goal-scorer Ismael Blanco in what was an otherwise poor performance by the Athenians, who are clearly still in need of reinforcements in defence.

Neither Daniel Majstorovic nor Geraldo Alves inspire confidence in the wake of Kyrgiakos’ departure, though the imminent arrival of Aris and BOSNIA******!!!!!! centre-back Sanel Jahic will hopefully go some way to bringing quality to central defence.

It is an area that Bajevic appears to be desperate to address before the close of the transfer window and based on some of the highlights below (note the complete absence of basic defensive principles), rightly so:

Over the past week the club has risen from the ashes somewhat though, managing to pick up what appear to be two astute signings in the form of Hungarian prodigy Krisztian Nemeth from Liverpool on a season-long loan and Poland international Roger Guerreiro on a 4-year deal.

Coupled with an uplifting 3-0 home win over Vaslui to confirm passage into the group stages of the Europa League, moods will certainly have been lifted among AEKzites ahead of tonight’s (Australian time) season-opener away against Atromitos.

The suggestion is that a stopper is still on the way following Sotiris Kyrgiakos’ departure to Liverpool and with an unconvincing pairing of Geraldo Alves and Daniel Majstorovic, which would be a huge boost to a squad that still needs reinforcement.

Title contenders? Hardly.

In a better state than they were one week ago? Definitely.

PS. I almost forgot – AEK have been drawn alongside Everton, Benfica and BATE in the Europa League group stages this season.

Some highlights from the Vaslui game:

His destination? None other than Liverpool, which makes his move oh-so-special within the context of a growing number of Greeks representing their country abroad.

Aside from the obvious advantages this has for the Greek domestic scene in terms of raising the profile of the game – as well as the fact that his form and fitness should improve for the national team during a precarious time of World Cup Qualification – there is the little matter of a now heavily depleted AEK squad.

Perhaps it would be a little naive to say that Kyrgiakos’ decision to leave the club after just having committed himself to the cause for a further four years is a sign of the times for AEK, as any player at almost any club in Europe would find it hard to turn down Liverpool (let alone a 30 year-old international playing for a club without a league title in 15 years and lacking totally in direction…)

However, it arrives during one of the most painful periods in recent memory for a loyal collection of fans who have been forced to watch a dreadful pre-season both on and off the pitch, the result of which was an embarrassing defeat to little-known Romanian outfit Vaslui in the first leg of an important Europa League qualifier.

The fact that Dusan Bajevic’s side will qualify is not the point; more concerning are suggestions that he was ready to leave the club following Kyrgiakos’ departure for what is a very cheap €3 million.

Since taking over at the half-way point of last season and admirably taking the side to within touching distance of UEFA Champions League football and an unlikely Greek Cup triumph, the Serb tactician has had little in the way of support from a board who quite frankly, need to be relieved of their duties by a strong character with the money to back up his personality.

In the meantime, a crucial opening-day derby clash with Olympiakos looms, which has largely been overshadowed by Kyrgiakos’ departure.

Thankfully, most AEK fans appear to have used their senses in reacting to the move, thanking the Greek international for even having joined the club in the first place despite his talents and the interest in his signature.

They are unlikely to reserve such understanding for the club’s administration if Olympiakos cruise to victory at the OAKA Spiros Louis…

While the two other Athenian outfits have added to their rosters conspicuous star quality, AEK appear to be left to picking up what will hopefully bargain buys rather than established internationals – and that, I’m afraid, won’t be enough to sustain anything close to a title challenge and admirable European campaign this season.

Which of course means that the likes of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos will continue to reap the rewards of UEFA Champions League qualification and general success, as AEK continues to suffer from a complete lack of leadership.

Hell, even the Thessaloniki clubs, as much as they are a shadow of their former selves, have gone on something of a spending spree over the summer.

This isn’t and never will be the most uplifting of offside blogs – but the painting of a vicious cycle of mismanagement is at least realistic…

PS. Reports suggest that veteran Argentine defender Carlos Araujo is set to join our club and shore up a troublesome right-back position, following in the footsteps of Brazilian Leonardo from Levadiakos (who scored on debut against the aforementioned La Liga outfit)

Here’s an encouraging highlights pacakge of a man who helped Huracan to 2nd in the Argentine top flight last season:

as confirmed by the Spanish club’s official website

In the opposite direction supposedly comes enigmatic Argentine winger Andres D’Alessandro, who doesn’t seem to have settled over a variety of continents despite a promising start to his career with River Plate, though he did enjoy a successful season on-loan with Real Zaragoza in Spain as they finished 6th in the 2006/07 season (the player made 35 league starts).

Bajevic though recently confirmed in an exclusive interview with Sport 24 that whilst the player moving to Athens is a distinct possibility, no official movement has been made by the club, who according to varying reports are likely to also let go of trouble-maker Rafik Djebbour.

Is Alessandro right for AEK, given his apparent propensity for inconsistency and a failure to settle? Under the current circumstances (i.e. a distinct lack of action in the transfer market that would make even the Serie A seem interesting *chuckle*) at least it’s something different…

Scour YouTube videos – as any proper scout would in the search of fresh talent – and you’ll find a variety of fuzzy videos of free-kicks, dribbling and goals from the footballer, whom you’d expect to make some sort of impact in Greece were he to arrive.

I say, in the interest of keeping us interested, sign him up…

Hell…sign anyone up…

Wonderful news given the club’s well-documented recent financial struggles, with the likes of Panathinaikos having embarked on a similar trade crusade in recent times in order to finance movements in the transfer market – as if to highlight the effect of the part-sale, AEK now appear set to sign Brazilian Leonardo from Levadiakos (with the move previously having seemed to break down) as well as being linked with Greece international and Panathinaikos striker Evangelos Mantzios.

On the football front, a recent friendly against Romanian outfit CFR Cluj ended in a 1-1 draw, with Argentine striker Ismael Blanco giving AEK a first-half lead before manager Dusan Bajevic made ten changes at the half, the Greeks eventually conceding an equalizer from a penalty conceded by the nephew of Technical Director and legendary defender Stelios Manolas…