 In January 2004, Savvas Kofidis, famous as a player of the team in the 1980s, became the team's manager.During the 2005–06, he led Iraklis to an acclaimed 4th-place finish, playing effective and attractive football, creating a club record for 13 consecutive wins at home.However, with considerable debts to players, coaches and the state, Spanoudakis started the 2006–07 season attempting to reconcile Iraklis finances by selling Joël Epalle and Panagiotis Lagos, who were instrumental in the previous year's success.