700 Dreams, Red Shamrock's march to glory.

Club Information

Status: Professional

Reputation: National (2.5/5)

Finances: Okay

Estimated Value: £1.7 million

Stadium: Perivolia Municipal Stadium (Capacity 3,700)

History

Platanias is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. The club was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Greek Superleague after promotion from the second tier in 2011/12, the club had never participated at the top level before. This promotion marked the meteoric rise of the club from the depths of the Greek regional leagues right up to the top flight of Greek football, it was truly a dream come true for the people of Platanias.

What is perhaps most interesting about Platanias FC, is that, as I was reliably informed by a supporter in the village whilst visiting there a few weeks back, there are only 700 people who live in Platanias all year round. Meaning that their village has the smallest population of any top division team in Europe. Which makes it even more remarkable that they have managed to get into the Greek Superleague.

A small snippet from Platanias FC’s Wikipedia page reveals a bizarre time in their history during WWII when the Germans occupied West Crete and Platanias players stole flags from the Germans and turned them into their playing jerseys.

“The 1942–43 AO Platanias struggled in the final Cup with the traditional association Talos but having significant absences as patients and goalkeeper Kouroupi ladaki and Galanis, who brought gun wound in the abdomen. Although Platanias lost the match, the final had a special importance because of the costumes of players. The jerseys were made from flags that had been stolen from the warehouses of the Germans, and residents had turned into the athletic apparel seamstresses in the village! From this fact, probably introduced in the red jerseys of the team. With the same attire struggled even against groups of German soldiers, who indeed seemed sporting ethic and where lost.”

Starting Squad

Squad Depth

Best Player currently at the club

Signings and pre-season results to follow...

Pre Season Results

Mixed bag of results from Pre-Season, the team went on a pre-season tour to Slovenia and played a host of lower league Slovenian sides. David Torres, the club's main striker picking up the most goals in pre-season with 4 goals, very hopeful that he can continue that sort of form into the domestic league season. The team showed plenty of promise by winning 4/6 friendlies whilst still getting used to new tactics, a new formation and a couple of new players in the squad. The highlight of pre-season certainly has to be the win over the prestigious Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, as few would have expected that.

All set for the first game of the season against Niki Volou, who are predicted by the media to finish bottom of the Greek Superleague. It is very important to get off to a good start in this one and then hopefully push on, with the first goal being the securing of Greek Superleague statys for the following season.

Due to a lack of funds and the limits on foreign players in the Greek league, it meant that finding signings to improve the squad was very difficult. In the end, 2 players came into the squad and 1 was released.

Diego Galvan looks to be the most useful of the two signings.

The Greek Superleague campaign began greatly, with Platanias registering 7 points from the first 3 games, with 2 home wins and a credible away point at Veroia.

However, the end of September proved to be a difficult couple of weeks for the team as they were suffering from a few injuries and had a couple of away ties to contend with. The first being a game against OFI Crete, a side from the East side of the island. This was the first Cretian derby of the season and expectations were high, however OFI just had too much for Platanias. Milunovic put the Red Shamrock ahead, but two quick fire goals from OFI were enough to sink Platanias and spark the beginning of a disappointing run, which included a defeat to lower division side Larisa in the cup.

The last 3 results were very disappointing, but with players coming back from injury, and goals still being scored, if the defence can be tightened up a bit, there's no reason why Platanias' form can't be improved in the coming months. With the club currently sat at 8th in the table, they are comfortably midtable, and as that was placed as the pre-season goal, I am perfectly content with the current positioning.

Unsurprisingly, Olympiakos have taken an early lead at the top and Niki Volou have taken their position at the bottom though there are still many twists and turns to go in the season.

There are some big games coming up in October for Platanias with 4 League games, including an away trip to Panathinaikos and 1 cup game. Important to maintain decent home form and start picking up a few points away from home.

Very interesting choice of club.

October & November 2014

It has become apparent that survival is the main aim this season and that its going to very tight from about 10th-18th, would like to see us finish in the top 10, but time will tell if this is actually a realistic aim for the season.

Atromitos are going very well and are unbeaten in their first 13 games, which is very different to the fortunes on Niki Volou who are still searching for their first win.

December 2014 & January 2015

What a great couple of months for Platanias in all competitions. Progressing on penalties in the Greek Cup to take us into the quarter final, and 4 wins and a draw from the last 5 games in the Greek Superleague.

David Torres is still banging in the goals and is currently top goalscorer in the entire league.

With those great couple of months, I think I can now safely say that we are looking upwards rather than at the relegation spots. 5th place is the dream, as it means that we would qualify for a playoff for Europe. I feel that this is a potentially unrealistic aim for the first season though, despite us currently only being 3 points behind 5th. This is mainly as our run of games in February is very difficult and we would do well to come out of that month still in the top half of the table.

Of all teams, we have managed to draw Olympiakos away in the quarter final of the Greek Cup, which should be a difficult game, but I am hopeful that we can at least give a good account of ourselves and push them all the way.

No signings made in January, but two players have left the club, one on loan and one on a permanent. Did not particularly want to sell Tetteh, but with the financial situation at the club worsening, it was probably a wise thing to do.

A very unsuccessful end to the season, a string of poor results as a consequence of many injuries and a lack of depth in the squad.

Did well to take Olympiakos to ET in the cup, but that was probably the highlight of the last few months.

Aims for next season, budget dependent, is to mount a challenge for a top 5 spot.

David Torres ended the season as the club's top goalscorer with 18 goals in all competitions, next closest being Jaime Gavilan with 9 goals.

Good bit of news for the club, hopefully can keep improving youth standards and produce some decent players of our own in the years to come.

Was obviously fairly close to getting the chop towards the end of last season, without realising, regardless a new contract has been signed.

My budget for next season has not really been improved and it looks like it will be quite difficult to progress at Platanias, but I will persist for as long as they will keep me on as manager.

2014/15 (Season 1): Greek Superleague: 12th, Greek Cup: Quarter-Final

Good pre-season for Platanias, only losing to Juventus over the 6 games played. Also nice to see my favourite player 'Yaya Banana' get on the scoresheet in a couple of the games.

Due to the clubs current financial predicament, the transfer market became a very difficult place once again. Unfortunately we had to let a few good players go, but we were able to bring in a few experienced players on frees. Sergio Leal looks to be a good back up for Sergio Torres, who was greatly missed when injured at times last season and Pazienza looks to be a player that can really dominate the game in the middle of the park and prevent us getting overrun in the midfield.

As there has been a lack of investment and with the finances not looking so great, there may be an over-reliance on the youth players (who are not especially good) to fill in the gaps this season, but hopefully they won't need to be utilised too much. The club has a difficult start to the season on paper and although the clubs aim is to finish midtable yet again, im starting to think that just surviving and keeping my job will be the biggest challenges for the season ahead.

Not a bad season in truth. Hopefully you can build on from what you've done

*Thanks mark wilson27, hoping that I can eventually build on the first season.

2015/16 Half Season Update

Absolutely horrendous start to the season for us, hence waiting a little while until putting up an update, as was hoping for an upturn in form. It seems that this managerial role at Platanias on a shoe-string budget is going to be a very challenging one for me, and with a lot of key players wanting to leave at the end of the season, we're in for a transition season next year. Each season is purely a case of trying to survive and slowly build a squad that can challenge for the top half and subsequently the European spots.

Once again we have been massively reliant on David Torres to provide most of the goals, and youth players have had to be called upon at times this season due to a lack of depth, which is ultimately linked to a lack of funds. Slight upturn in form towards the halfway stage of the season due to a change in approach and formation means that hopefully we can push on and get a solid midtable finish this year.

The season continued in familiar fashion until the last 5 games where we actually managed to string a few decent results together. The most remarkable result of the second half of the season is undoubtably the 7-0 away win at Xanthi, which nobody would have predicted in a million years, especially after a run of 4 straight defeats, with no goals in the last 3. Strangely everything seemed to click in that game and if the momentum from that one had been carried through for the rest of the season then there would have been potential for a top half finish. Another rather dull and average system with not a lot going on.

A continuous issue for us is that we are losing a lot of games that we very nearly pick up a point at, this is demonstrated by us only getting 3 draws all season.

There are a fair few players set to leave at the end of the season, mainly due to the terrible financial state that the club finds itself in currently. Although some of the players on their way out will be missed, many are not signings and have not really played many games under me, so it will be useful to get them off of the clubs wage bill.

David Torres was the club top goalscorer again this season with 17 goals in all competitions, and thankfully he will be with us next season too (where he will likely be top goalscorer for the third year in a row). Turned down a bid for him of 850k towards the end of the season, as jus could not afford for our only real goal threat to leave.

The club are currently £1 million in the red, which was always going to be an issue for a club which is essentially punching above its weight, the income that it receives from its fanbase is so low that it is a very difficult job trying to maintain their top flight status.

2015/16 (Season 2): Greek Superleague: 12th, Greek Cup: 2nd Round

Decent enough pre-season results, aside from the first game when we got absolutely battered 6-1. Been keeping clean sheets in a lot of the games which will hopefully bode well for the coming season.

Some really good additions for us here, with a lot of players going out of contract and leaving in the summer it meant that wholesale changes could be made, the team has now been mainly shaped by myself and I hope that this will make the season a bit better. Although the squad is not massive, the players brought in are definitely of a higher standard. Pinto should provide good competition for Torres upfront and Madureira looks to be a great little player on the left wing.

Some really great results here, I think I may have finally managed to string a half decent team together. Another very slow start to the season though, which always seems to be the case, admittedly I considered resigning after there were no wins in the first 8 games in all competitions, but persistance seems to have paid off and we have rocketed up the table. Just hoping that we can continue this rich vein of form into the 2nd half of the season.

Good to see you moving up a little.

2016/17 (Season 3): Greek Superleague: 6th, Greek Cup: Winners

Good luck in getting though a couple of rounds in Europe.