Pavlos and Thanassis Giannakopoulos pledged on Friday to stay at the Panathinaikos basketball ownership for one more season, but with a reduced budget.
Following a meeting between the owners and coach Zeljko Obradovic, the club announced that it is still up for sale, but as there has been “nothing tangible" as far as finding a buyer is concerned, "the Giannakopoulos family will remain on the administration for one more year, even with a significantly reduced budget."
"Given the fact that the appropriate buyer, who would fulfill the requirements set by the Giannakopoulos family, has not been found, [the owners] would not want the team to be without anyone at the helm," the statement added.
Consequently, the players whose contracts have expired, such as Costas Tsartsaris and Stratos Perperoglou, as well as those with existing contracts, will be asked to sign for less money for the new season.
Reds in disarray
One key factor that may have led the Giannakopoulos brothers to hang on at Panathinaikos is the departure of the Angelopoulos brothers from Olympiakos.
The Reds are in disarray, with the club that has failed to clinch a league title in the last 14 years seeing its players leaving one after the other.
Already Yiannis Bourousis had his contract terminated by Olympiakos following revelations in the football match-fixing case that he liaised with Kavala soccer club owner Makis Psomiadis to obtain performance-enhancing drugs.
On their way out, according to reports, are Jamon Gordon, Milos Teodosic and Thodoris Papaloukas, while even team coach Dusan Ivkovic is considering leaving the Piraeus club.
Spanish reports suggest Barcelona is interested in Vassilis Spanoulis, as Yotam Halperin has already returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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