MATCH FIXING, NOT BEING PAID AND DEEP FRIED MARS BARS | Apostolos Stamatelopoulos

Socceroos striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos details eye-opening revelations about his time playing in Greece.

Plus his feelings scoring a double at Celtic, while he also divulges...

• Disappointment in the Premier League club he wanted to smash.
• What his hates most about Scotland.
• His love for deep fried Mars bars.
• The former Sky Blues coach who turn his career around.
• How the commentators go with his name.
• And the one Scottish snack which makes him want to puke.

🎧 Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe to We Are Sydney - Presented By San Miguel.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We're gonna smash them. What was it, 7-0? One of the best moments in my career for sure.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

People think like, oh it's Greece, you know, like like you're gonna be playing in Mykonos or something on a beach and just relaxing.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

I won't say team names or anything, but yeah, training facilities, very, very average presidents coming in and abusing people at halftime. It was a little bit disappointing because we'd built up this massive like You're humble bragging, apparently you already. No, I'm not, I'm not. We genuinely wanted to go out and beat them. But at that point, I think you'd kind of like sucked it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hey everyone, welcome back to We Are Sydney, presented to you by San Miguel. My name's Sam. This is my co-host Adamo, and Darms, we're actually matching today. You still have my look.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Oh Sam, great minds think alike. Look at that jumper. You know, it's uh it's actually very warm outside, but it's always cold in here. 15 degrees in here. So I've got this really nice jumper in the Sydney FC shirt. Where can we get them from? Shop at SydneyFC.com. They've thrown a whole bunch of items on there, discounted. So get them now. Yep. I clean this one. And my hope Sydney FC don't expect it back. Still actually got the tag on behind it. I'm taking it. I'm going straight to my car and I'm legging it. I've also got my eyes on it. You know what I like? Yeah. The singlet. The Sydney FC singlet is very nice as well. But guys, check that out. Let's not waste any more time. Let's get straight into it because it's finals time. It's big blue, and we've got Apostolos Stamatolopolos in the house. Baby, first things first, how's the calf? Good. No problems. Beautiful. That is what Sky Blue fans want to hear. Been a wild 12 months for you. You started the season. I remember watching a Celtic game, a Celtic against Mother Wall. You scored a double at Celtic Park. You started the season in Scotland. You've come now back home, as in, to Australia to Sydney FC. Just talk us through these last 12 months for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

You know, it's definitely been crazy, that's for sure. Um started off well, I was playing a bit. We had a bunch of injuries at the start of the season. Um, so that was only really me as an option. Um we're playing a bit, and obviously the way that we played over there was a lot on your body for a striker. So our manager was very much rotating boys in and out. Um and for me, I'd come off the back of a very injury-riddled season. So um I just wanted to look to get consistent game time, and he understood that, the club understood that. Also, Mrs. pregnant and really wanted to have the baby back in Australia, so made the op the decision to come back six months, and and this was a perfect place to do so.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, I was gonna ask you, what was that process like of you know coming back home? Was obviously your partner being pregnant a big part of that? Was there anything else that kind of came into consideration?

SPEAKER_02 2:34

It was obviously that was a little bit of it, but it more was a football. Because, like I said, the life season before that I'd just not played because I had two big injuries and I was in and out, in and out because of them. Um and this season was all about just I wanted to have consistent game time to get my body back up to to standard. And I did get that at the start of the season. It dropped off a little bit in the middle of the season where I was coming off the bench a bit more, not starting as many games, and yeah, that's the main reason why.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Because you scored a lot of goals there, like you were when you were playing, you were you were on, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, I think I had six in the league and one in the cup, so it wasn't awful, could have had a few more, but yeah, no, I was it was okay. I was I was doing alright. So, but yeah, it was just purely down to game time. I just wanted to play and get my body back up to to what I know that I can do.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, tell us about playing in Scotland, as we know, Scottish fans are some of the wildest. Celtic Park was that best atmosphere you played in front of? Were there some underrated ones, excluding your home fans, of course?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Um yeah, I'd probably say the obvious one's Celtic. I never got to play at Ibrox because I was injured every single time we played them away. Um and the one time I was fit, we played them at Handon. Um, but Celtic Park definitely for me was up there.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

What was the food and the weather like? Was that a big adjustment?

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah, I think food-wise, it's pretty similar to here. Like culturally, you've got a bit of everything from all over the world, so it wasn't too bad. And the people there are very similar to Australians, all really nice. So all that part was really easy to assimilate to, but it was more the weather. The weather was awful. Yeah. It's grim, it's cold. Cold. Can't really like like here. We finish training, you can go get a coffee, you can walk outside, take kids to the park. Like over there, you have to put 50 layers on to go do that. So that's the only thing I have with it. That's not that fun. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Post-game, what are you eating in Scotland? Is there like something like do they have like a or is it just anything? Like, do you have anything in particular that you like, or is it your healthy type of guy, or do you treat yourself? What do they have? Do they have chippers over there? That's more English, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 4:38

No, it's Scottish as well. It's Scottish? Okay. Do you ever indulge in that? Or I don't really like it. I feel sick afterwards. Yeah, some other stuff, yeah, like battered sausage, that sort of stuff. It's alright after a night out. Interesting. Battered sausage, battered Mars bars.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

I heard about them.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I mean they're actually a ripper, but yeah. The snags will leave. Yeah, you feel awful after it. But it's good when you're doing it. It's not too bad.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

What's the what was the biggest difference now you've come back to Australia plane wise?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Um, the heat. Yeah, you don't really notice it that much when you're playing here because obviously we're brought up playing in the heat for our entire lives. And you go over there, it's a big adjustment to playing in the cold. And then coming back here, I'd say that took me the longest time to get used to. Um, just with like intensity, intensity-wise. Um obviously there's a lot of night games, so it's not too bad now. Um, but in terms of the games, like I'd say Scottish football to here is similar, but the intensity over there and the physicality is just turned up a bit more.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Do you think that A-League because there's a oh like any league, there's a disparity between the top, like you know, your Celtics and Rangers and parts this season and the bottom. Do you think that top A-league teams could compete in Scotland? Or do you think maybe that they're champ like their equivalent of the championship?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, no, of course. Yeah, definitely. Easily. Like uh like Auckland, for instance, the way that they play would suit Scottish football to a team. They would they'd fit straight in. Then you've got teams like us, like not Sydney but Motherwell, who we've brought in a manager where it's more playing football and we're sitting pretty much comfortably fourth. So A-League teams could definitely compete, especially the top ones, definitely competed in push probably for top six, in my opinion. Yeah, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

You grew up in one of the great football cities, Adelaide. What was that like, and how did you kind of get into football?

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Um my old man played footy basically his whole life, stopped for a little bit when he had kids, but played like NPL level, was in like some NSL like teams for West Adelaide. Yep. Never played NSL, but was always like in and around it when he was younger. Um and then from young, just he loves footy, brought me up into it. That's how, really, it was just like that. Just like a lot of young kids, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Tell me about the decis the move to Greece. I'm gonna assume your motherland, of course. So you go to the motherland. What was that move like?

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Eye-opening, yeah. For sure, yeah. It was um rough more towards the end with the start. It was it was decent, but there's obviously a lot of bumps, and you hear about all the stories in in Greek and like lower division Italian teams and like that southern southern Europe footy, and yeah, it was grew me up real fast, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yeah, some like wild, like owner. You even hear stories like not just the owners, but even like the players have a a different mentality, like or not being paid and all that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah. Did you have like a welcome to Greece kind of moment? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Yeah, I had a few. Um, I won't say any because I don't like bagging. Teams, I won't say team names or anything, but yeah, there's definitely a few. There's obviously not being paid, that sucks. Yeah. Um training facilities, very, very average. Like seeing fixed games, like obviously you cut don't know for sure, but like we assume. You assume just like all those cliches, presidents coming in and abusing people at halftime when you've not been paid in two, three months. Like crazy. Damn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

It's like those Greek owners, eh?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Well, that's the trade-off, eh? Because people think like, oh, it's Greece, yeah. Like you're gonna be playing in Mykonos or something on a beach and just relaxing and then you hear the other stories of it not being like that at all.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Like the top teams, obviously, all professional. Like you hear you don't really hear anything about them. Like your top five, top six teams, you wouldn't they'd just be like a normal run club. But the ones below that are a bit average and more in the second division, it's like worse than MPL. Yeah. Wow. What were the players like, like the Greek players, like with you? Like, oh, they're fine with me. Yeah, yeah, because obviously like I'm Greek, but I never really spoke Greek before I left. I understood it from my grandparents speaking it to me.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

But when I got over there, I put the effort into to speak Greek and I could understand what they were saying. Um so I was like sort of between the Greeks and the foreigners, so I got along with everybody. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, I was gonna say it sometimes makes it hard, hey, when you don't know what's going on. Was your coach Greek as well?

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah. Yeah. So but it was easy. Like I could understand everything he wanted me to do, so it wasn't yeah, it wasn't too difficult.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

It makes it easier. Uh when you went to Newcastle, I feel like you were at your best football. What was that like? And what do you feel like clicked for you there?

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Um for me, I always knew that I was a number nine from when I was young to when I got to the A League those first couple seasons with um Marco Kerr's. I was playing as a nine and I was young and scoring when I was coming off the bench, so always knew that. And then as when the A-League, when I was around in the A-League, you had like big, big names playing number nine as like a youngster, and it was tough to play there. So I was sort of like put all over the shop and it didn't really suit me. And I finally got to Newcastle and Greece as well. I was playing as a striker, but got to Newcastle and had Robbie Stanton there who believed in me and gave me confidence that I was gonna play there week in, week out, and yeah, just scored goals.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I feel like yeah, he was super underrated as well. Like what he did with the Jets before this era. Like I almost feel like he, you know, kind of crawled so that they could walk, like super underrated, especially from his time in the MPL as well. You played in that all-star game against Newcastle. Yeah. Were the boys bummed that Newcastle brought their kids, the kids? Because I'm as a football fan, I was bummed. Remember the Barcelona game, how cool that was, getting to see all their stars here. Like he scored, which is amazing. But you know, it would have been cool if they brought the big boys down.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah, no, it was a bit like that because we obviously had the boss there, and from day one, it was we're gonna smash, smash him, like we're gonna destroy him. And um yeah, we were a little bit bummed when we saw the team sheet, but I think what was it, 7-0?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, it was an eight, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

She can say you've been Newcastle Newcastle. Yeah, I know, but still it was it was a little bit disappointing because we'd built up this massive like energy that we wanted, we genuinely wanted to go out and beat them and compete with them, and then to see the team sheet like what it was, it was it was a little bit disappointing.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I had a friend of mine who him and his dad massive Newcastle fans, they they went to you know, flew down and everything, and they were so pumped up and spent all this money. I mean, and then they brought down not even like the race, it was like under 20s. Yeah, under 23s, yeah. It was mental.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

But we we'd seen a couple of their fans, like Newcastle fans from Newcastle, and they were saying the same thing. They were so disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

It was a massive year for you, despite obviously that team. But then you make your soccer roos debut. What was that like?

SPEAKER_02 11:49

That was probably up there with my one of my best moments in my career for sure. Has to be hey. Yeah, it was a special moment for me and my family. Had a good season, it was a good way to end it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

What was that feeling like?

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Hard to describe. It's like obviously I try and approach football in like every game's the same, you go output the same intensity. So, like in the moment, I didn't really think too much of it, but it was more like afterwards where you get your number, even though I've forgotten it already. Um I know, I know, and I'd have to remind myself, got my Instagram posts to see what it is. I'm mad with that stuff, but yeah, no, afterwards seeing like my family, my wife, my parents, or my dad in the crowd, and my sister and my brother, it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

That's so awesome. I feel like it's everything you dream of as a footballer.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, exactly. That's very, very cool. All right, AP, it is time now for the cool break. This is where we change the questions completely. It's a little bit like the air conditioning here. They come in a little bit chilly. Once you, as always, by San Miguel, Sammy, kick us off.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

What do you do to switch off?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Um, golf. Big golfer. I've heard, I've heard you're really good. We've actually had a couple people on. Who said it? Um, who was this? Someone said you're really, really good.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Who is it?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Tiago said you're really, really good. I'm not really really you're humble bragging.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Apparently you're really, I'm not. I'm off like 8.5, which is like probably average.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Where are you ranked in the team, you reckon? Where do you sit?

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Uh I'd say like me, Joe, and Geordie, probably the best top three. And we're all like very similar. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

So anyone on their day could be. Anyone, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Okay. I say this as a person who also has a very hard name to pronounce. What's the worst someone has ever butchered your name?

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Oh. There's been that many. Yeah, commentators as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Come on.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

No, comment I feel like the commentators are pretty good. Like they've gotten it now. When I first started playing, it was a little bit like in Scotland it was there. I thought they were gonna be bad, but there's only one guy that got it like really wrong. But I can't even remember like because it was that that bad. But when you're ordering a coffee in Scotland, they're like, Do you have a AP? Yeah, AP. Yeah. Everything's AP.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

What about in school? Did you find that hard?

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Like, yeah, like a little bit, but again, AP, Apo, they were my nicknames. So it was easy. That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Okay. Australia, Scotland, Greece. Three countries you know well from playing there. Which one had the best food? Greece. Greece. What's your go-to?

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Uh if where if I'm going to ask you. Best coffee. Australia. Yeah. Country mile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Night.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Australia again, I reckon. Oh, it depends what you want. Like if I'm going out for dinner with my family and my missus, I'd say here. Like, because you've got more variety and the cities are a bit nicer. But if you're going like out and you want to go out, out, I'd say Greece. Yeah, yeah. I think so. Beaches. Greece again. I reckon. Just because I like calm beach, I don't like waves and stuff like that. Yeah, lifestyle. Um Australia. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Okay. Who's your favourite footballer?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Um we spoke about this before, but yeah, no, I don't really have one.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Okay, how about this? You don't have one. How about the toughest footballer you've ever faced? Toughest defender. He just It was a nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

I wouldn't say it was a nightmare, but in terms of like status and like everyone would know him, I'd say Marcello when it was at Olympiakos. But at that point, I think he'd kind of like sacked it a little bit. Um so but hardest defender I've ever played against. Probably Carter Vickers is Celtic. Yeah, okay. He's they're really good. He's quick, strong, very good on the ball, like can't press him. I'd say him for sure. Yeah, I feel like there'd be a few just forgives in Scotland. Monsters over there.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Although, you know, they say that one of the Australian qualities is our physicality. So like that's probably why you see a lot of Aussies go over there and succeed. Yeah. Yeah. Sammy, this is your game now back for another round.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

I love asking everyone. So you can have dinner with three people. Who are you inviting and what are you having?

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Three people. Anyone dead or alive? Yeah. Yeah. Tiger Woods.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Just shout him a Uber.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah. Tiger Woods. Let's go. I haven't really thought about this ever. So we've got Tiger there? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

He's sitting there.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

And he's red polo.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Yep, so you're a golfer.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

I'm gonna go. This is gonna sound boring, but probably Ronaldo.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

It's not boring. But he just won't be eating much.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Yeah, he won't be eating much. You'll need the water and the salad and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

That's all right.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

And I'll go Samuel Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Okay, cool. Good mix.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Oh, that's a good one. Some good stories on that table. Yeah, wow. What are they eating? Probably just Greek food, tough edna. No, it's my favorite thing to eat. So that's good, sir. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Alright, looking ahead now to the big blue. You've been here for I mean, time flies. You can't feel like you just signed. How have you enjoyed your time here, like back in the A League at Sydney?

SPEAKER_02 17:22

I've loved it. Yeah. It's been good. We've got great staff, great boys, great club. It's really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Because you've come here as well, and there's, you know, in a short time, so much has happened as well. Players have come with you, but then also change of manager as well. Looking ahead to Melbourne, big blue, a game you scored in as well. How does that game excite you?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Like I said, I try try it's gonna sound like every game I try and keep it like the same. I don't try and build up anything in my head. Regardless, I scored against them last time. It's just fresh, and we go from there.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

How were the boys feeling when they did find out that um it was victory?

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Um to be honest, I think we weren't really bothered about who we were gonna verse. Um I like playing against victory, I like playing in Melbourne as well. Amy Park, I think, yeah, one of the best stadiums for football in Australia. The surface is always good there, so which will suit us. Um so yeah, we're definitely looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, G D up, huge game.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, and also like we've been doing a little bit of research as well. You have a knacker scoring in big games. Derby, big blue. I'm just saying, you know, I'm just saying, yeah. I know you're gonna you're very like stoic, but you know, this is uh manifesting. And we're manifesting that you're back as well with the big players coming back. One thing we're also bringing back is the jersey. Yep. AP, we get everyone to sign this jersey. I'm just gonna call it right now. I reckon you're gonna have a very cursive, nice signature.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

My my signature's probably one of the oldest for you.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Oh, you're so mean to yourself. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Alright, let's go here.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

It's nice.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

It's filling up really nicely, guys.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

You know what I like, Sammy, as well. Tell me. Is there a number in there? Let me have a look. Is there? Yeah, there is. Yeah, AP80. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

To be fair, I can never read signatures. I don't know what's going on all the time.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

I like to wear eight. So eight's my favorite number, and then obviously one of the boys already had it, so just went eighty.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

That just a reminder, guys, we're giving that away.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Yeah, someone's gonna win this one. We'll let you know how. But uh it's filled up really nicely, John. A lot of episodes this season. Uh we always end it with one question. If you weren't a footballer, what would you be?

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Uh probably get into project management, construction management.

unknown 19:47

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

That's what I was studying at uni before. Um when I first came into professional football. I couldn't continue with it because of football and it was a lot of prat. But yeah, I'd get into that.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Is that something maybe later down the track you'd yeah, want to still pursue?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, definitely. I've pretty much mapped out what I want to do after football, and that's part of it. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

A constructions or something.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, cool. Where's home? So it's your Adelaide, misses Adelaide. Adelaide as well. So it's back to it's back to Adelaide, probably post-football. Definitely. Which would be a very long time away. Hopefully. Yeah. Beautiful. No, awesome. AP, thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Man, all the best as well. Big game guys remind us. We're not at home this weekend, but it's the big blue. So fire up.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

G up. G up.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

It's the big one.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Bigger than this.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Just to explain it as well, because a lot of people need like uh we had Paul Ocon Jr., he didn't even know the final system. So it's win this week, and then you get a two-legged prelim final against either Adelaide or Jets. I think it's fair to say AP. I think this league is wide open. Anyone can beat anyone. For sure. I agree. But you've been in the league for uh for a while. I feel like when you're at the Jets, and even before when you're at Adelaide and even at Weston, there was always one team, I feel like, and maybe a little bit of daylight. Whereas this one is is crazy, which is exciting as Sydney FC fans, because I think we can win it from where do we finish? Six. Six. Yeah. Yeah, so anyone can be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

We're better than six. It's I think so. Just got to get in our best form on the weekend. Fifth. Fifth.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Fifth. Was it fifth? Yeah, fifth. Well, it's away from home. Got to do it the hard way, gotta be the victory this weekend, Sammy.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Doms, I just wanted to say, I mean, depending on the result this weekend, this could be our last podcast for the season. So I want to say thank you for joining us and thank you for everyone that's listened and joined in and commented because it's been an absolute pleasure. And thank you to Sydney because I've really enjoyed it. We've had some great guests.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Yeah, no, we certainly have Sydney, but it won't be over because we're gonna win this week. Yes, we are. Come on. Until next time, guys, sports at Sydney FC. Let's go.