One of the reasons according to Nikolaidis for quitting was that the team didn't sell 30,000 season tickets; he stated "If I had managed to convince the AEK supporters to come to the stadium then I would not be leaving.
Jedan od razloga njegove ostavke bio je što klub nije uspio prodati 30.000 sezonskih ulaznica uz objašnjenje: "Da sam uspio uvjeriti AEK-ove navijače da dođu na stadion sada ne bih otišao.