Greek drama follows AEK Athens’ coach Bajevic

Wherever Bosnian Serb football coach Dusan Bajevic has worked, success and trouble have followed.

The stormy managerial career of the 61-year-old, most of which has been spent in Greece, took its latest twist for the worse on Saturday when a handful of angry AEK Athens fans attacked him on the field shortly after his team lost a 2-1 friendly encounter with second-division Kallithea.

He was surrounded by a group of around 20 fans, pushed to the ground and attacked before police and other AEK fans could intervene to help him.

“This is nothing strange, it happens. This is an ugly image sent out to the world,” Bajevic told Serb daily Blic.

“The police investigators are doing their job and we?ll see what happens. What I can say at the time is the whole of Greece is devastated by what?s happened.”

AEK president Stavros Adamidis said the incident was “a huge humiliation for AEK” and offered full support to the coach.

“The club officials have decided Bajevic is staying as coach and that’s how it is going to be. I told him we were counting on him. I expect from all true AEK fans to support him, as well. What has happened is totally unacceptable,” Adamidis said.

Bajevic has a long history with AEK. As a player he is considered a club legend having helped them to two championships and a Greek Cup during his stay between 1977 and 1981.

As a coach, during the course of three stints in charge, he also led them to four championships and one Cup victory.

He had returned last season and led them to a respectable fourth place finish and a berth in the Europa Cup. Last week their pre-season preparations peaked with victories over Blackburn Rovers and Glasgow Rangers in Sydney.

And yet there remains a core of discontent within the supporter base that reviles Bajevic with a passion – simply because 14 years ago he left AEK to join bitter arch-rival Olympiakos.

“The key to this whole unfortunate plot is that this was the work of a supporters group, who have been unhappy with me since 1996 when I left AEK and moved to Olympiakos,” he said.

“The club are doing well, but they are using every opportunity to insult me, attempting to drive me away from the club. This time it was a physical attack.”

Bajevic has attempted to woo the suspicious within the AEK ranks but Greek sportswriter Giannis Xenakis summed it up best: “As long as there’s Bajevic, they’ll be anti-Bajevic fans,” he said.

In January 1997 when Bajevic-led Olympiakos faced AEK for the first time in Athens he was met with a barrage of oranges, eggs and yoghurt thrown by the AEK supporters who had even printed and distributed fake money bearing his portrait.

When Bajevic, who played for Yugoslavia in the 1974 World Cup, rejoined AEK in the summer of 2002, some fans greeted him with black flags and banners protesting against his return.

During an away match when the team stopped for refreshments, AEK fans pelted him with coffee, sandwiches and chairs.

Bajevic later shocked reporters after a match with OFI Crete in 2003 when he said he had received death threats from angry AEK fans who considered him a traitor. He went on to say that he would “kill anyone who harms my family.”

His second exit from AEK came in January 2004, his resignation coming after fans began abusing his wife during a match against Iraklis.

After leading Olympiakos to a league and cup double in 2006, Bajevic returned home to Serbia to take charge of Red Star Belgrade.

He lasted until March the following year when, with his team trailing 3-0 at home to Vojvodina with 18 minutes to go, he walked off the pitch and out of the stadium, never to return.

In November 2008, he returned to AEK but, as the fans focused on the boardroom battles, he was largely left to get on with his job without any negative interference – until now that is.