[AMOROSO!]

PAOK bought an unknown Serbian player named Zlatan Spasic,what can you tell me about him? he was playing for Zelezink till we bought him and he is supposed to have scored 17 goals this season...is he any good?

Did you know that PAOK coach Dusan Bajevic is the 5th scorer of all times for the Yugoslavian national team? does any of you remember him as a player?

 

[Matjaz]

Hey Amoroso! i hope ypu will get any answers here, sorry cause i didnt helped u !

CIAO !

 

[Ben Akiba]

The correct name is Sladjan Spasic from FK Zeleznik. He is a left outside midfielder, born 1974 in Sweden(!). He began his career in Dinamo Vranje (South Serbia). He also played for FK Obilic (Belgrade) and FK Borac (Cacak). His strengths are his good crosses.

I do remember Dusan Bajevic as a player. He was a forward of NK Velez Mostar (today Bosnian Fed). He was an outsanding player and a great gentleman on and off the field. He was very skillful, on the par with his contemporary Dragan Dzajic from Red Star Bgd., and a prolific goal scorer. I wished he played for Red Star, but he was an idol of Velez fans and he enjoyed living in his native Mostar. At that time Velez played some very nice football. Bajevic was one from the famous Velez's "BMW" trio (Bajevic, Maric - goalkeeper and Vladic - playmaker, a Serb, a Muslim and a Croat) who played together in the late 60s and early 70s, and who broughth a lot of joy and glory to both Velez and Yugoslav national team.

 

[AMOROSO!]

Thank Ben,Bajevic is also a very good coach,correction: a GREAT coach.If Boskov quits after the Euro I would recoment him for the national team but (a) I dont think he can get enough money as the manager of Yugoslavia and (b) I want him to stay at my club cause he is great.

Is Spasic good? I mean can he make it over here? do you like him?

 

[Ben Akiba]

I haven't seen Spasic playing; I have been in the USA since 1978. My information on Spasic was obtained from the FK Zeleznik website and clips from Yugo-press.

In the Yugo-press it is mentioned that Spasic departed to Greece. He is mentioned as the Zeleznik's best player in the last season, although I haven't read about him during the 1999/2000 season as much as about some other talented players from "samller" clubs. I am surprised that he was not targeted by Red Star or Partizan. A reason may be that he isn't very young and that he himself wanted to play abroad. On the other hand, I'm sure Bajevic knows what he is doing. It is interesting that Bajevic does not want to get some more affiremd players from Red Star, Partizan or Obilic who are desparately trying to find a foreign club to play. Players like Lazetic, Damjanac, Zoric, Gojkovic are very good and have been playing for either U-21 or the senior Yugoslav national team. Maybe they are offered less money by Greek teams than by either Turkish or Chinese teams.

 

[AMOROSO!]

Spasic rejected two offers to come to PAOK.One from Red Star and one from Oviedo.Bajevic influenced his decision...

I dont think the Chinese clubs offer more money than Greek ones...I mean,lets be serius...

You mentioned Gojkovic,he just signed for Iraklis,is he good?

 

[Ben Akiba]

I was not aware that Spasic was on Red Star's wish list.

As far as Gojkovic, I think Iraklis got a good player. He is a classical playmaker a la Stojkovic or Zidane but not at the same level. His dribbling has been often compared to that of Dejan Savicevic, but his problem is that he is too indvividual player which prevented him from elevating his game to a higher level. He is also not known for high work rate. He was considered a great hope of Yugoslav soccer and even played for the national team in a couple of friendlies. Last season, he was on and off Red Star's starting line-up and fought for the starting position with Milenko Acimovic (a Slovenian international) and Leo Lerinc. The latter one is currently the first choice of the Red Star's midfield, primarily owing to his fanatic workrate and dedication to the team.

My remark regarding Chinese clubs is based on the case of the former Red Star forward Miodrag Pantelic. During the winter of 1998 he was supposed to join Panathenaikos. For some reason this deal never materialized. In the summer of 1999 he joined Peruggia to replace Rapajic who was supposed to go to Juventus. Since Rapajic stayed in Peruggia, Pantelic returned to Red Star. Last winter he again explored the possibility to join PAO, but he signed with Dalien from China. He is a very good player who can score and who has great technical abilities. His main disadvantage is his physique, he is short and skinny.

 

[AMOROSO!]

I know a former Iraklis and Paris Saint Germain forward named Pantelic,he is now with Celta Vigo.I cant remember his first name though...I seriusly doubt that Panathinaikos ever showed any interest in that Pantelic guy because its probably this first time I hear his name (unless he is the Pntelic I mentioned above) and last winter I dont recall Panathinaikos being interested in any forwards at all...

Since you know so much about Yugoslavian players and the league in general,what is your opinion on Vidak Bratic? he is a defencive midfielder at the Jokanovic style,you know tall,slow with great pass and a mean shot.He used to play for Vojvodina and PAOK snaped him up last winter.He has done ok so far but Bajevic claims that he will shine next year...can you tell me anything on him?

Thank you very much for all this information,I hope you dont mind I ask you...

 

[Ben Akiba]

The Pantelic you referred to is Marko Pantelic. He came from Red Star youth program, but left as a junior and joined PSG. He also played for the Yugoslav U-21 last year vs. Croatia. He was considered an extraordinary talent. However, his non-professional and eccentric behavior seriously impinged on his career. He used to pull his pants down and moon his PSG coach. Everywhere he went, he had problems with coach and players. Last fall, Red Star briefly considered a possibility to get him on loan, but looks like the coach Muslin was not too happy of having him.

To my knowledge, Miodrag Pantelic had tried out for PAO during winter of 1998. According to the reports of Yugoslav sport press, the problem was of financial nature; he was offered less than he wanted.

Vidak Bratic was for a while targeted by both Partizan and Red Star, but his transfer fee was too high. He had a problem with Vojvodina's coach and was a leader of a players' strike against the club during the 1999/2000 season. (That is the reason Vojvodina played so bad.) When the strike was over, Vojvodina did not let him play, but also did not want to realease his contract. Thus, any other club who wanted him had to come up with money to buy out his contract. Since Yugoslav clubs are chronically short of cash, he joined AEK where former Partizan coach Tumbakovic has formed a colony of Yugoslav players. I am not familiar with his game, but the comparisson with Jokanovic seems to be adequate.

 

[AMOROSO!]

He didnt join AEK...he joined PAOK.You press shorting do mistakes.

Tuba is at Partizan now? he is one of the worst coaches I have ever seen...do you know a guy named Matjasevic? he brought him at AEK and played a total 3 games.Tuba was saying how great he wasand the kid oculdnt pass a ball...lets not mention the other joke named Nedad Bjekovic or simply Nedad Nonscorovic.And Dragan Ciric sucked as well...and so did Goran Petric.He brougth 4 Serbs and they were all awful.

 

[Ben Akiba]

Uuups, sorry for swopping AEK and PAOK.

Tumba (Tumbakovic) is not exactly my favorite coach. He is very popular in Yugoslavia among Partizan fans since they view him as the main reason partizan was dominant in the Yugo-league in the 90s. In my view, Partizan success was primarily due to a vacuum created by the departure of the Red Star's famous players (Savicevic, Prosinecki, Jugovic, Mihajlovic, Pancev, Belodedic, Lukic, Drobnjak and later Kovacevic and Djorovic) during the early 90s. It took time before Red Star was able to recover from this dranage of talent. At that time, Partizan had a very talented team (Nadj, Mijatovic, Ciric, Milosevic, Curcic) which filled that vacuum and became the dominant force in the Yugo-league.

I agree that Bjekovic is not very good. He is the son of the present director of FK Partizan, a great friend of Tumba. His father was also a player at the time of Dusan Bajevic. Like father, like son. That says it all. Petric, another Partizan boy, was an average player, but he had several very good seasons with Glasgow Rangers. Ciric, yet another product of Partizan school, is a different story. He was an awsome talent, but went to a great club (Barcelona) too early. There he had little playing time and stagnated. I think he is lost for football. What a shame. This is typical for a number of Yugoslav talented players who left country too early and joined famous clubs before they were fully developed. Almost all of them became failures. For example Ognjenovic (Real M.), Ciric (Barcelona), Lazetic (PSV), Marko Pantelic (PSG), Njegus (Atletico M.), Paunovic (Atletico M.), Djokaj (Majorca), even D. Stakovic (Lazio) and Vukomnaovic (Bordeaux). All these players would be much better if they stayed in the Yugo-league till they were 25 or at least 23. All of them left when they were practically teenagers.

Matijasevic came from Vojvodina. He was also standard player in the Yugo U-21 team. He was one of those who participated in the Vojvodina player strike. When he came to Greece, he was out of shape, playing no games for a couple of months. It was clear that he would be a disaster. However, I think he is a very good player and that he did a good job signing for Red Star last week. There, he will have a good coach and a plenty of time to get back to his game.

 

[AMOROSO!]

As I told you before,Marko Pantelic first came to Iraklis and failed,then he moved to PSG...

About Matjasevic.When he played he was bad,and when I say bad I mean REALLY BAD...he could halrdy pass the ball.

Ciric,"the maradona of balkans" he never shined out of Yugoslavia...