Maccabi Ashdod looked ahead at the resumption of the 2019/20 season as they addressed the media at a press conference attended by new Head Coach Amit Tamir, star guard Paul Stoll and Chairman Armond Assouline who spoke about Brad Greenberg not returning to the team to finish off the campaign:

“Brad did many great things here and coached the club for 3 years. But he is at an age where there are health risks due to the coronavirus and we care about him. We just felt because of the situation it wasn’t worth bringing him back.”

“It’s also no secret that we were against the resumption of the league for numerous reasons, not just because of the risk of relegation as there were also financial issues as well. But once the decision was made we want to make sure that we end the campaign as strong as possible.”
Amit Tamir spoke about getting the chance to be the head coach of the club, “I see this as a big challenge and I very much appreciate the chance that Ashdod has given me. We are working hard and we now have our full squad. We will do our maximum.”

“I learnt a tremendous amount from Brad from stetting up practice to managing the game itself. I will also be indebted to Brad for his help and for receiving this opportunity.”

The new boss also talked about what he has seen from his players so far, “It’s still a bit too soon to see what we have as we have only had 2 full practices together. We do have a group of guys that are here to work hard a a mix of Israelis and very intelligent foreigners who came to succeed and that is what we need right now; players who will fight and battle all over the floor.”

Paul Stoll spoke about the chances of keeping the team up in the top league, “I love playing and I am here to fulfill my obligations to the club that I returned to in December. I came here to fight and battle and that is what I have done my entire career, when you have a chance you’ve got to take it.”

He also referenced the quarantine regulations, “It’s a very sensitive subject form what I understand, but this is what it is. We are being paid to do our work. The league felt to return to play was important for the country and although it’s not ideal to stay at home it’s important to finish the league. Sometimes you just got to do what you’ve got to do. I am not complaining because there are very few leagues playing around the world and I really appreciate that the Israeli league returned to action.”