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Red Star general manager Vladimir Cvetkovic bid an emotional farewell on Wednesday, stepping down after 21 years with the club. "Red Star is life," he said. "Everything else is small in comparison."
Cvetkovic played 13 successful seasons for Red Star's basketball team, missing just six matches in that time. He was capped 149 times for Yugoslavia, winning Olympic, European and World titles while representing his country.
He then moved into management on the football side and spent 18 more years with the club in an administrative capacity, presiding most notably over Red Star's greatest successes, winning the European Cup and World Club championship in 1991.
Cvetkovic spent the day with family, friends and colleagues at an emotional farewell party and predicted further success for the club, despite the recent decline in domestic football in Yugoslavia.
"Ten years ago we earned £1.5 million from one match and 75 per cent of that was from ticket sales," he said. "Now we make only two or three per cent from tickets and advertising only provides us with what we need to for a month.
"That's why we have had to decide whether the team or the club is more important.
"We sold players and created a new team because it was the only way for us to survive. In any case I am optimistic, because I believe that better days are coming.
"There were no ugly moments at Red Star," he concluded. "There were only nice and less nice ones. With Red Star everything is nice."
Cvetkovic bids fond farewell to Red Star
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