Opinion: Maccabi Haifa Has Lost Its Spirit Under Barak Bakhar

In this fan opinion column, the writer argues that by the middle of the football season, Barak Bakhar will no longer be the coach of Maccabi Haifa, and asks readers to check back on that prediction. The piece says the team’s problems go beyond tactics, facilities, technology, or even a coach with a strong record, because success in football also depends on a less tangible quality, what the writer calls the club’s “spirit.”

The column says that spirit is weakened when there is too much ego and not enough humility, friendship, and team cohesion. By contrast, when those qualities are missing, a club is left to rely only on technical ability, which the writer says is usually not enough. In the writer’s view, this is what is happening at Maccabi Haifa under Bakhar’s current tenure, with the team’s spirit steadily fading as time passes while the status quo remains.

The article also argues that human relations inside a football club are essential to this spirit, and points to what it describes as the unfair treatment of Suf Podgoreanu as one example. It says the people running the organization are the first and most important influence on the whole system, and that they should be honest, practical, and straightforward, without making excuses when things go wrong or becoming arrogant when things go well.

The writer concludes that several of the qualities that build the club’s spirit have been damaged, and that if the current setup has not worked for a long time, then the conclusions are obvious. The column ends by suggesting the change may need to come “in the middle of the season, or maybe even before.” It also includes a submission note inviting readers to send their own fan columns to kick@ynet.co.il, with a full name and a length of 250 to 800 words.