Taking a look at the final ladder position after round 24 of the VPL home and away season, Oakleigh Cannons finish the year equal first with Green Gully on 43 points, making finals for the first time in 3 years.
There are no happier people in Victorian football than General Manager of Oakleigh Cannons, Aki ‘the chief’ Ionnas, and Head Coach Arthur ‘the rookie’ Papas.
The Victorian Premier League’s version of the ‘odd couple’, these two different people have managed to gel together a successful working relationship.
The street smarts of Ionnas and the professionalism and drive of Papas have turned Oakleigh Cannons around after three years of disappointment.
It is an extraordinary outcome considering the club’s gamble in hiring rookie coach Arthur Papas. The two past coaches at the club, Stuart Munro and John Anastasiadis, are two big names in the Victorian football scene yet they went against the culture of getting the ‘proven best’ and went for a 31 year old coach who had not held a senior position in football before.
What is even more extraordinary is this ladder position has been achieved with 20 players from the senior team overhauled from the previous year and 30 per cent slashed from the budget of the previous season.
Aki Ionnas recalls 12 months ago when the process to find a new coach began, a board member of the club suggested the name Arthur Papas and the club flew down Arthur from the AIS in Canberra. After a one-hour initial meeting with ‘the rookie coach’ Aki and his selection committee were blown away with his professionalism, thoroughness, attention to detail and drive.
“We wanted a change; we wanted a different direction from the past. We gave Arthur full control with recruiting and list management, we knew he was going to overhaul the squad quite dramatically and we were happy for him to do so.
“His enthusiasm, his contacts and drive to succeed won us over very quickly. When we announced the decision I had up to 15 people in the game call me with surprise saying we took a massive gamble, these people today now can see the results. We finished equal top, slashed our budget and brought a great culture to our club. Players were taking lower salaries to stay at the club because they were enjoying the high level training and professional environment produced at the club under Arthur. The squad is one unit, there are no groups working against the team agenda and we cannot be happier. The culture has been a massive change.”
Papas was aware he had to get early results in the season because if he started slowly he knew the supporters and media would start criticising all the changes, thankfully this never eventuated and the team positioned itself in the top three all year and never looked like having any major form slumps. Arthur had a plan and he carefully worked this plan with the help of the club.
“I understand the club is not full professional and I pushed the club to areas at times they probably did not want to go but my standards are very high.
“I have had the support to push the limits not normally seen at this level and I believe we have seen the results of this commitment.
“The playing group have been fantastic; they really want to play for each other. I brought in players like Peter Zois, Ramazan Tavsancioglu and Frankie Lagana and they are athletes who are inwardly driven to compete and succeed, I don’t need to motivate them week to week. This has held us in good stead through the years as challenges were presented to us.
“I also want to thank the entire board for giving me this opportunity and Aki who I have been closely working with from day one. Every day I work to repay their faith in me.”
Oakleigh Cannons, who next year will celebrate their 40th birthday, are working hard off the pitch also. They are well aware teams and coaches come and go but the facilities are a major factor for the club moving forward.
The board is currently in negotiations with the local City of Monash council for a synthetic pitch, the junior facilities are looking to be upgraded and a mount with stairs will commence in two months.
There are several key people that are driving the club forward.
Club President Stan Papayianneris, who has been at the club since 2007, presides over a board of 13 individuals. A generous successful businessman, his involvement at the club is driven to give something back to the Greek community. He is happy to stay in the background and leave the media commitments to the ‘face’ of the club, Aki Ionnas, who has been at the Cannons for 11 years straight.
The club chairman Kon Kavalakis has played a major role liaising with the council and working with the president on key strategic matters.
John Kostopoulos, the junior coordinator of the club, manages just over 500 juniors.
‘Kokki’ as he is affectionately known, has been the driving force between this massively successful junior participation program.
General Manager Aki Ionnas, drives the club day-to-day and is very appreciative of the club’s sponsors, members and supporters with a special mention to their major sponsor Bank of Cyprus.
Aki is very appreciative of the board, who have worked very hard and are united in their pursuit for success.
Finals are upon us again and this group seems committed to changing history and breaking the tag of finals failures, trying to overcome the ‘ghosts of the past’ where so many Oakleigh finals campaigns have ended in tears. Can this group do better than the famous ‘Galacticos’ of 2006?
The next month will tell. Neos Kosmos wish the ‘odd couple’ and the Oakleigh Cannons all the best for the 2011 finals campaign.
