Hapoel Tel Aviv owner Ofer Yannay said in an interview Wednesday on 103FM that he is already speaking with agents of Maccabi Tel Aviv players and expects to bring in whomever he wants for next season. The comments came after his explosive postgame monologue following Hapoel’s playoff final loss, in which he said he would devote much of his summer energy to making sure “all the rotten, pathetic and corrupt” people would no longer be there.
Yannay also addressed coach Dimitris Itoudis, saying he will remain under contract, and responded sharply when asked whether Oded Katash was better: “How did you reach that conclusion?” On the club’s clashes with referees this season, he claimed officials had thrown an “businessman” out of the arena and said, “What kind of audacity do they have?” He added that while many Israeli basketball referees are good, “there is a layer that must be cleaned out,” and said he had video evidence.
He argued that there is “an inherent hostility” toward Hapoel Tel Aviv and cited the case of Hapoel Jerusalem, saying it did not want to play but Hapoel still had to take part in a replay. He also questioned whether Hapoel’s previous coaches had failed to win titles because the competition in Israel is not fair, and said the loss only matters if the competition is conducted on equal terms. Asked about the claim that he disrupts the team, Yannay said he was satisfied with this season’s results and proud of the path the club took.
He said reaching the EuroLeague final series was a major achievement and argued that a team from Israel leading the EuroLeague would not have happened without the money he brought and his personality. Turning to the media, he told reporters to “do your job” and said he had “goosebumps” from the recorded evidence he collected about the referees. On Maccabi Tel Aviv, he said, “They did not beat us in a sporting way, so there is no reason to shake hands.”
