Sinai Says: A disgraceful episode

Maccabi decided to replace Birenboim over the weekend, but didn't have the decency to notify him that he would soon be out of a job until late Monday night.

By ALLON SINAI
Allon sinai 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Allon sinai 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Maccabi Tel Aviv's treatment of Effi Birenboim since last Thursday's defeat at Hapoel Jerusalem was nothing short of disgraceful. Maccabi decided to replace Birenboim over the weekend, but didn't have the decency to notify him that he would soon be out of a job until late Monday night. The 54-year-old coach was made to suffer the endless rumor mill regarding the many candidates for his job for three days, during which he continued to try and coach the team out of its crisis. He even guided the side in a BSL game on Sunday, believing he might have a chance to hold on to his job, even though everyone but him seemed to know that he will not be on the sideline for Thursday's game against Unicaja Malaga. Birenboim made his fair share of mistakes at Maccabi, and the firing of a coach is never a pleasant experience for all involved, but Tel Aviv stooped to a new low over the last few days, proving once and for all that the yellow-and-blue club is anything but the big happy family it claims to be. Maccabi's owners' insistence that they must manage the club with their hearts rather than their heads has resulted in blunder after blunder and, in recent days, has embarrassed the organization beyond repair. Saying all that, Maccabi has made the right decision by bringing back Pini Gershon. Tel Aviv has gone through four coaches in just over two years, since Gershon left the team following the 2005/06 season, and significantly the 57-year-old will do one thing no other coach could do since his departure. Pini can fill the big shoes he left behind to his successors and is the only coach in the world who won't be crippled by trying to live up to the expectations set by his great Maccabi teams, which he guided to three consecutive Euroleague finals between 2004 and 2006, including two straight European championships. Besides the fact that he's obviously a fantastic coach, there are also two more factors which mean Gershon has every chance to do well with the team. Pini was handed a contract until the end of the 2010/11 season worth a reported $2.5 million dollars, meaning Maccabi will quite literally not be able to afford to sack him if the going gets tough. This ensures the owners will have to give Gershon the time he needs to succeed, if they like it or not, and that the coach will have the final call on all professional matters. As successful as Gershon may prove to be, however, there's no excuse for the way Maccabi acted towards Birenboim. As long as Maccabi continues with such behavior, and cares for nothing except winning on court, it won't be able to whole-heartedly take pleasure in its accomplishments in the way normal sporting clubs do and is destined to continue with its the endless chase of joyless triumphs. allon@jpost.com