In the summer of 1983, AEK faced another administrative change in their presidency. Michalis Arkadis left the wheel of the team and despite having won the cup last year, he did not have the financial means to lift the burden of their obligations and mostly importantly the completion of the eight-year contract of Thomas Mavros. The Cypriot businessman, Lefteris Panagidis stepped in and kept Mavros in the team by giving him the amount of 45 million drachmas, while he replaced Arkadis in the presidency of the team. His direct collaborators were Dimitris Roussakis and Michalis Lefakis. The new president, although having a travel agency in Athens, he maintained his headquarters in England. That was the reason for his admiration of the English football model, which through his choices he tried to pass on to the club. So, for the team's bench, he hired the British John Barnwell, who as the coach of Wolves had won the League Cup and looked ideal. British footballers Trevor Ross, from Everton and Tommy Langley, from Crystal Palace, came with him to the team in an atmosphere of excitement and high expectations. AEK also proceeded with the acquisition of the Greek-Brazilian Pavlos Papaioannou from Rodos, as well as the promising midfielder of Veria, Babis Akrivopoulos. On the other hand, Mojaš Radonjić left the team and returned to Yugoslavia, after being disappointed and failed to live up to the expectations.
The team begun with dreams and excitement, but landed abruptly in reality and had one of the worst seasons in their history. The club started badly, paid mainly for their inability to respond to the away games. Eventually the coach was fired after a home defeat by Iraklis in the 12th matchday, having already been eliminated at the same time from the Cup Winners' Cup at the first round by Újpest, counting 4 defeats, 2 draws and no wins away from home. The British coach was succeeded by the "old acquaintance" Austrian Helmut Senekowitsch at first and later by Kostas Nestoridis, who completed the tragic course of the championship as AEK Athens' coach. Eventually the team finished at 7th place, 16 points behind Panathinaikos, who won the title.
AEK were eliminated from the Greek Cup and from the opportunity to defend the title, at the round of 16 by the later finalist, AEL. In the few notable things of the season were the 4–0 victory over PAOK, the performance of Thomas Mavros with 13 goals in 21 appearances and the performance of Vangelis Vlachos, who showed that AEK could rely and build on him.[1]
Players
Squad information
NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 6 May 1984, 23:59 UTC+3.
Note: At the 75th minute, Akrivopoulos was seriously injured and couldn't continue and AEK had already used the maximum of 2 substitutions, thus they finished the game with 10 men.
Note: At the 70th minute, Stylianopoulos was seriously injured and couldn't continue and AEK had already used the maximum of 2 substitutions, thus they finished the game with 10 men.
The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.