Just when you think Arkadi Gaydamak can't go any lower he somehow finds a way to stoop even further.
By ALLON SINAIAllon sinai 88(photo credit: Courtesy)
Just when you think Arkadi Gaydamak can't go any lower he somehow finds a way to stoop even further.
There's absolutely no doubt that as the private owner of Betar Jerusalem Gaydamak can do as he wishes, but only he knows why he must run his club so offensively and in the process make a laughing stock out of himself.
The firing of club chairman Eli Arazi together with most of the management and coach Itzhak Schum earlier this month seemed to be a
reckless low that even Gaydamak himself would find difficult to outdo.
Well, it took just two weeks before he hit a bottom that is well beyond any acceptable behavior by a club owner.
The oligarch's rant against his team's defender Shimon Gershon during and after Sunday's 0-0 draw with Maccabi Tel Aviv at Teddy Stadium wasn't just an embarrassing moment for his club and its fans, but for Israeli soccer as a whole.
Knowing his words would be broadcast to the nation, Gaydamak held nothing back and humiliated Gershon in front of Channel 10's cameras.
"Why Gershon? Why? Why is he still playing here?" a distraught Gaydamak said after being told that Gershon, who scored Betar's final penalty in last season's Cup final triumph, was to take the 90th minute spot kick against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
"Doesn't he [coach Reuven Atar] know that Gershon should have been thrown out long ago? Why does he even let him play?"
And Gaydamak didn't stop there. "I thought he was out forever. When I saw him on the field I was so surprised. I was so happy that I hadn't seen him for many games," he said about the defender, who had been injured in recent weeks, missing Jerusalem's Champions League qualifiers and did indeed miss the penalty on Sunday.
Gaydamak's horror show, however, should come as no surprise.
Since he purchased Betar in 2005 he has repeatedly treated his club's employees as pawns in a game he believes he's winning, but in fact is badly losing.
In just three years, Gaydamak has seemingly made every mistake in the book, going through six coaches, two managers, two chairmen and many more staff and management members.
Ironically, Gaydamak's wholesale changes have proved to be his downfall.
His foolish decisions have been the only constant at Betar over the last three years and more and more of the side's fans are becoming discontented with his antics and dreaming of the day their club will have a different owner.
Let's just hope that for the sake of Betar and Israeli soccer that day comes before Gaydamak's causes any more damage and plummets even lower than Sunday's appalling tirade.
allon@jpost.com
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