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The Decline And Fall Of AEK

aekThe once-storied AEK Athens soccer franchise has hit hard times, beset with financial woes, a dwindling fan base, without a place to play, one of its young stars suspended for giving a Nazi salute, the arrest of its owner on tax charges. And now the final blow: relegation.
For the first time in its 89-year history, AEK is going to be sent to the second division of also-rans after a points deduction handed down for crowd violence left them stranded in the drop zone with one match remaining.
The Super League’s disciplinary committee dished out the punishment on April 19 after AEK’s match against fellow strugglers Panthrakikos at the Olympic Stadium last weekend was abandoned due to a hostile pitch invasion by home fans.
The league said the match would be recorded as a 3-0 loss for AEK, deducted three points from this season’s tally and two from the next campaign, and slapped the club with fines totaling 4,000 euros ($5,200.) The deduction leaves AEK five points from staying in the first tier ahead of its final match against Atromitos on April 21.
In a statement published on the league’s official website, the disciplinary committee said it accepted referee Stavros Tritsonis’ match report which stated the inability to continue the match due to the “unusually catastrophic state of the pitch and surrounding area.” The league added that it found the club guilty because AEK had “failed to take appropriate measures for the safe conduct of the match and for the overall maintenance of order.” The team regularly tolerates hooligans and violence.
AEK called the decision a “pre-meditated crime by a corrupt system” in a strongly worded statement responding to the announcement and its  intention to exercise their right to appeal, set to be heard next week. If the relegation stands, AEK may find itself out of business altogether with the financial means to keep going under its current structure.
“The disciplinary body of the Super League has decided to deprive us on paper of the right to fight for our salvation,” AEK said. “The corrupt system has found AEK guilty … this represents a pre-meditated crime with the perpetrators in principle Tritsonis and the disciplinary committee… and other instigators of a septic system.”
The statement concluded: “AEK never gives up, however, because we have learned to play through on the pitch until the end. Starting on Sunday in Peristeri (against Atromitos) and then next week at the Court of Appeal where we believe we will be finally vindicated.” It made no mention of its fans pouring onto the field to attack its own players after an AEK defender accidentally scored against his own team.
TURBULENT SEASON
The strict penalty comes as a result of a sports law passed by the Greek government in February, 2012 aimed at clamping down on soccer violence. AEK is the second club to be hit by after Panathinaikos received a similar points deduction punishment last year when a game against Olympiakos Piraeus was abandoned following a field invasion.
The violence at the Olympic Stadium, the ground which hosted the 2004 Olympics, was the latest low point in a turbulent season for the club.
Players from both teams were chased off the pitch by angry home fans after the hosts conceded an 87th-minute goal in the crucial relegation clash. After a 90-minute delay, referee Tritsonis announced that the match was being abandoned.
AEK has been operating on a shoe-string budget following a period of financial turmoil in which virtually the entire first-team squad was sold off in order to secure a license and preserve their top-flight status, leaving it with mostly young, inexperienced players who are taking regular beatings on the field.
Club officials have been seeking new investors but after the recent collapse of a potential deal with London-based investment bank Seymour Pierce, their efforts have been unsuccessful. The problems have not stopped there in what has been the worst campaign in club history.
Groups of supporters have staged regular protests at the training facilities due to the state of the team’s finances, while the Nazi-salute goal celebration of midfielder Giorgos Katidis last month provided another blow to AEK’s reputation.
Katidis was banned for five matches, fined 1,000 euros and also received a life ban from all national teams by the Greek Football Federation for making the gesture after scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 league victory over Veria.

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