# 1983–84 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 1983–84 season was the 60th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 25th consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Alpha Ethniki, the Greek Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. The season began on 4 September 1983 and finished on 6 May 1984.

## Kits

Supplier: Zita Hellas Sponsor(s): Nissan
| Home | Away | Third |

## Overview

In the summer of 1983, AEK faced another administrative change in their presidency. Michalis Arkadis left the wheel of the team and despite having won the cup last year, he did not have the financial means to lift the burden of their obligations and mostly importantly the completion of the eight-year contract of Thomas Mavros. The Cypriot businessman, Lefteris Panagidis stepped in and kept Mavros in the team by giving him the amount of 45 million drachmas, while he replaced Arkadis in the presidency of the team. His direct collaborators were Dimitris Roussakis and Michalis Lefakis. The new president, although having a travel agency in Athens, he maintained his headquarters in England. That was the reason for his admiration of the English football model, which through his choices he tried to pass on to the club. So, for the team's bench, he hired the British John Barnwell, who as the coach of Wolves had won the League Cup and looked ideal. The British footballers, Trevor Ross from Everton and Tommy Langley from Crystal Palace, came with him to the team in an atmosphere of excitement and high expectations. AEK also proceeded with the acquisition of the Greek-Brazilian Pavlos Papaioannou from Rodos, as well as the promising midfielder of Veria, Babis Akrivopoulos. On the other hand, Mojaš Radonjić left the team and returned to Yugoslavia, after failing to live up to the expectations.
The team begun with dreams and excitement, but landed abruptly in reality and had one of the worst seasons in their history. The club started badly, paid mainly for their inability to respond to the away games. Eventually "Barney" was fired after a home defeat by Iraklis in the 12th matchday, having already been eliminated at the same time from the Cup Winners' Cup at the first round by Újpest, counting 4 defeats, 2 draws and no wins away from home. The British coach was succeeded by an "old acquaintance", the Austrian Helmut Senekowitsch at first and later by Kostas Nestoridis, who completed the tragic course of the championship as AEK Athens' coach. Eventually the team finished at the 7th place, 16 points behind Panathinaikos, who won the title.
AEK were eliminated from the cup and from the opportunity to defend the title, at the round of 16 by the later finalist, AEL. In the few notable things of the season were the 4–0 victory over PAOK, the performance of Thomas Mavros with 13 goals in 21 appearances and the performance of Vangelis Vlachos, who showed that the club could build around him.

## Management team

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Kostas Nestoridis |
| Assistant manager | Stelios Skevofilakas |
| Goalkeeping coach | Stelios Serafidis |
| Head of Medical | Lakis Nikolaou |
| Physiotherapist | Nikos Pantazis |

## Players
### Squad information

NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 6 May 1984, 23:59 UTC+3.
| Player | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed | Previous club | Transfer fee | Contract until |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||
| Lakis Stergioudas | GK | (1952-12-11)11 December 1952 (aged 31) | 1972 | Niki Poligyrou | Free | 1985 |
| Christos Arvanitis | GK | (1953-01-23)23 January 1953 (aged 31) | 1982 | Olympiacos | ₯7,000,000 | 1986 |
| Spyros Ikonomopoulos | GK | (1959-07-25)25 July 1959 (aged 24) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Defenders ||||||||
| Petros Ravousis (Captain) | CB / RB | (1954-10-01)1 October 1954 (aged 29) | 1972 | Aetos Skydra | Free | 1985 |
| Vangelis Paraprastanitis | LB / CB / DM | (1955-02-10)10 February 1955 (aged 29) | 1979 | Trikala | Free | 1985 |
| Stavros Letsas | RB / RM / CB | (1957-03-06)6 March 1957 (aged 27) | 1978 | Agioi Anargyroi | Free | 1986 |
| Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | RB / LB | (1957-09-04)4 September 1957 (aged 26) | 1978 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1986 |
| Pavlos Papaioannou | RB / LB / DM / RM | (1959-05-19)19 May 1959 (aged 25) | 1983 | Rodos | ₯10,000,000 | 1988 |
| Takis Karagiozopoulos | CB / DM / ST | (1961-02-04)4 February 1961 (aged 23) | 1981 | Veria | Free | 1986 |
| Stelios Manolas | CB / RB | (1961-07-13)13 July 1961 (aged 22) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Lysandros Georgamlis | RB / CB / DM / LB | (1962-02-25)25 February 1962 (aged 22) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1985 |
| Midfielders ||||||||
| Christos Ardizoglou (Vice-captain) | RM / LM / RW / LW / AM / LB | (1953-03-25)25 March 1953 (aged 31) | 1974 | Apollon Athens | ₯5,000,000 | 1986 |
| Spyros Thodis | CM / AM / DM | (1955-07-23)23 July 1955 (aged 28) | 1979 | Anagennisi Karditsa | Free | 1984 |
| Dinos Ballis | AM / CM / DM / SS / ST / CB | (1957-05-25)25 May 1957 (aged 27) | 1981 | Aris | ₯17,000,000 | 1986 |
| George Christopoulos | CM | (1960-12-11)11 December 1960 (aged 23) | 1983 | Canberra City | ₯1,000,000 | 1984 |
| Babis Akrivopoulos | AM / SS / ST | (1961-09-04)4 September 1961 (aged 22) | 1983 | Veria | ₯8,400,000 | 1988 |
| Vangelis Vlachos (Vice-captain 2) | AM / CM | (1962-01-06)6 January 1962 (aged 22) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Forwards ||||||||
| Thomas Mavros | ST / LW | (1954-05-31)31 May 1954 (aged 30) | 1976 | Panionios | ₯4,000,000 | 1987 |
| Manolis Kottis | ST / LW | (1955-01-25)25 January 1955 (aged 29) | 1980 | Rodos | Free | 1985 |
| Giannis Dintsikos | ST / SS / RW / LW / AM | (1960-06-25)25 June 1960 (aged 24) | 1981 | Kastoria | ₯20,000,000 | 1986 |
| Giorgos Chatziioannidis | ST | (1960-11-30)30 November 1960 (aged 23) | 1979 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window ||||||||
| Michalis Tzirakis | CB / RB / RM | (1954-03-06)6 March 1954 (aged 30) | 1980 | OFI | ₯8,000,000 | 1985 |
| Takis Nikoloudis | CM / AM / RM / LM | (1951-08-26)26 August 1951 (aged 32) | 1982 | Olympiacos | ₯5,000,000 | 1984 |
| Angel Kolev | AM / RM / LM | (1953-08-22)22 August 1953 (aged 30) | 1982 | Lokomotiv Sofia | Free | 1983 |
| Trevor Ross | CM / AM / DM / RM / LM | (1957-01-16)16 January 1957 (aged 27) | 1983 | Everton | ₯8,000,000 | 1985 |
| Tommy Langley | ST | (1958-02-08)8 February 1958 (aged 26) | 1983 | Crystal Palace | ₯15,000,000 | 1985 |
| Christos Tatidis | LW | 1959(1959-00-00) (aged 24–25) | 1982 | AEK Athens U20 | — | 1984 |

## Transfers
### In
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Contract Until |
| DF | Pavlos Papaioannou | Rodos | ₯10,000,000 | 13 July 1983 | 30 June 1988 |
| MF | Takis Nikoloudis | Inter-Montréal | Loan return | 11 July 1983 | 30 June 1984 |
| MF | Trevor Ross | Everton | ₯8,000,000 | 30 June 1983 | 30 June 1985 |
| MF | Babis Akrivopoulos | Veria | ₯8,400,000 | 15 July 1983 | 30 June 1988 |
| FW | Tommy Langley | Crystal Palace | ₯15,000,000 | 14 July 1983 | 30 June 1985 |
Notes
    a. $^^$ Plus a conduction of a friendly match between the two clubs.

### Out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| MF | Giorgos Vlantis | Acharnaikos | Free transfer | 27 July 1983 |
| FW | Mojaš Radonjić | Sutjeska Nikšić | Contract termination | 13 July 1983 |
| FW | Panagiotis Angelidis | Acharnaikos | Free transfer | 28 July 1983 |

#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date |
| DF | Michalis Tzirakis | OFI | Contract termination | 12 December 1983 |
| MF | Takis Nikoloudis | Apollon Kalamarias | ₯1,000,000 | 9 December 1983 |
| MF | Trevor Ross | Sheffield United | Contract termnation | 14 December 1983 |
| MF | Angel Kolev | Shumen | Contract termination | 17 November 1983 |
| FW | Tommy Langley | Coventry City | Contract termnation | 24 February 1984 |
| FW | Christos Tatidis | Panserraikos | Contract termination | 14 December 1983 |

### Loan in
#### Winter

| Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| MF | George Christopoulos | Canberra City | ₯1,000,000 | 13 December 1983 | 12 December 1984 | Y | |

### Loan out
#### Summer

| Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Until | Option to buy | Source |
| GK | Fanis Kofinas | Korinthos | Free | 28 July 1983 | 30 June 1985 | N | |

### Overall transfer activity
## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Alpha Ethniki | 4 September 1983 | 6 May 1984 | Matchday 1 | 7th | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 040.00 |
| Greek Cup | 21 December 1983 | 4 April 1984 | First round | Round of 16 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 050.00 |
| European Cup Winners' Cup | 14 September 1983 | 28 September 1983 | First round | First round | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 49 | 37 | +12 | 042.11 |
Last updated: 6 May 1984 Source: Competitions

### Alpha Ethniki
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | PAOK | 30 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 35 | |
| 6 | AEL | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 28 | 29 | −1 | 32 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 7 | AEK Athens | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 30 | |
| 8 | OFI | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 27 | |
| 9 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 38 | 43 | −5 | 26 | |
* ↑ Since Panathinaikos, winners of 1983–84 Greek Football Cup, was qualified for the 1984–85 European Cup, losing cup finalists AEL earned a spot in the first round of the 1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by Matchday

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | W | L | D | W | L | W | L | W | D | L | L | W | D | L | W | L | D | D | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | D | W | L |
| Position | 3 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 |

#### Fixtures
### European Cup Winners' Cup
#### First round
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

    As of 6 May 1984
| No. | Pos | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | Greek Cup | European Cup Winners' Cup | European Cup Winners' Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| — | GK | Lakis Stergioudas | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| — | GK | Christos Arvanitis | 22 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| — | DF | Petros Ravousis | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| — | DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | 16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| — | DF | Stavros Letsas | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| — | DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| — | DF | Pavlos Papaioannou | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| — | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 27 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 3 |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 27 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 1 |
| — | DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | 26 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| — | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 24 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 2 |
| — | MF | Spyros Thodis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | MF | Dinos Ballis | 25 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| — | MF | George Christopoulos | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| — | MF | Babis Akrivopoulos | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
| — | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 29 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 9 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| — | FW | Thomas Mavros | 21 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 17 |
| — | FW | Manolis Kottis | 25 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 6 |
| — | FW | Giannis Dintsikos | 25 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 5 |
| — | FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window |||||||||||
| — | DF | Michalis Tzirakis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | MF | Takis Nikoloudis | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| — | MF | Angel Kolev | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | MF | Trevor Ross | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| — | FW | Tommy Langley | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| — | FW | Christos Tatidis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 6 May 1984
| Rank | Pos. | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup Winners' Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | Thomas Mavros | 13 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
| 2 | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | FW | Manolis Kottis | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | FW | Giannis Dintsikos | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | DF | Stelios Manolas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Takis Nikoloudis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Babis Akrivopoulos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | FW | Tommy Langley | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Trevor Ross | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 40 | 6 | 3 | 49 |

### Clean sheets

The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.
    As of 6 May 1984
| Rank | Player | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup Winners' Cup | Total |
| 1 | Christos Arvanitis | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | Lakis Stergioudas | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Totals | Totals | 10 | 4 | 1 | 15 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 6 May 1984
| N | P | Name | Alpha Ethniki | Alpha Ethniki | Greek Cup | European Cup Winners' Cup | Total | Total |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||||||||
| — | GK | Lakis Stergioudas | | | | | | |
| — | GK | Christos Arvanitis | 1 | | | 1 | 2 | |
| — | GK | Spyros Ikonomopoulos | | | | | | |
| Defenders |||||||||||||||||
| — | DF | Petros Ravousis | | | | | | |
| — | DF | Vangelis Paraprastanitis | | 1 | | | | 1 |
| — | DF | Stavros Letsas | 1 | | | | 1 | |
| — | DF | Panagiotis Stylianopoulos | 3 | | | | 3 | |
| — | DF | Pavlos Papaioannou | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | |
| — | DF | Takis Karagiozopoulos | 6 | | 1 | | 7 | |
| — | DF | Stelios Manolas | 5 | | 1 | | 6 | |
| — | DF | Lysandros Georgamlis | 3 | | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| Midfielders |||||||||||||||||
| — | MF | Christos Ardizoglou | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | |
| — | MF | Spyros Thodis | | | | | | |
| — | MF | Dinos Ballis | 2 | | | 1 | 3 | |
| — | MF | George Christopoulos | | | | | | |
| — | MF | Babis Akrivopoulos | | | | | | |
| — | MF | Vangelis Vlachos | 5 | | | | 5 | |
| Forwards |||||||||||||||||
| — | FW | Thomas Mavros | | 1 | | | | 1 |
| — | FW | Manolis Kottis | 1 | | | | 1 | |
| — | FW | Giannis Dintsikos | 4 | | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| — | FW | Giorgos Chatziioannidis | 1 | | | | 1 | |
| Left during Winter Transfer Window |||||||||||||||||
| — | DF | Michalis Tzirakis | | | | | | |
| — | MF | Takis Nikoloudis | 1 | | | | 1 | |
| — | MF | Angel Kolev | | | | | | |
| — | MF | Trevor Ross | 1 | | | 1 | 2 | |
| — | FW | Tommy Langley | | | | | | |
| — | FW | Christos Tatidis | | | | | | |