Team of the Century coach, Manny Poulakakis, has passed away

There are few bigger names in the South family. As already mentioned on smfcboard by others, it was great to have him at the 50th anniversary gala ball. I'm just going to use the official site's spiel, because it gives you the gist pretty well. My condolences to the family.

The entire South Melbourne FC family wishes to extend its deep condolences to the Poulakakis family on the passing of club legend and Team of the Century coach Mr. Manny Poulakakis, who passed away late on Monday night.

Mr. Poulakakis was an icon of South Melbourne FC, coaching the club in four separate stints, from 1961-64, 1969, 1972-73 and 1976. In a remarkable coaching career at Middle Park, Mr. Poulakakis managed South Melbourne FC in 126 league games with a 55% winning rate. He will forever be remembered for being at the helm of South's Victorian State League championships of 1962, 1964, 1972 and 1976, whilst also capturing the AMPOL Cup in 1976.

Regarded as one of Australia’s greatest coaches, Mr. Poulakakis was conferred the prestigious award of coach of the South Melbourne FC Team of the Century in 2002, and will always be celebrated as one of the major individuals in shaping South Melbourne into such a dominant playing force in Victorian and Australian football. He was also recently inducted into the South Melbourne FC Hall of Fame at the 50th Anniversary Gala Ball.

South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis, speaking to smfc.com.au, remarked that “the passing of Mr. Poulakakis represented the passing of a true Club legend, and his smile and presence will be severely missed by the SMFC family. I wish to pass on my condolences on behalf of everyone at SMFC to the Poulakakis family. We will miss him dearly."