OLYMPIAKOS PRESIDENT EVANGELOS Marinakis fined the team €400,000 on Monday and ordered the club’s under-performing players to go on holiday until the end of the season.
Marinakis, who also owns English second-division side Nottingham Forest, was angry at Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Levadiakos that left the defending Greek league champions in third place.
“I will build Olympiakos from the beginning and it will become the team we are dreaming of. I and the rest of the fans have tolerated you enough. You will leave today and go on holiday,” Marinakis was quoted in the Greek media as telling the players.
He said very few in the current squad will be retained for the final three matches of the campaign, with replacements to be called up from the U20 team.
“The amateur teams live with the basics, they love Olympiakos and their supporters much more than you do,” he continued, vowing to reinvest money collected from the fines into the club’s amateur teams.
“(You think more about) the nice houses you live in and your cars and don’t care about the team,” Marinakis reportedly told players. “I pay millions for you to have everything. With your actions I fired three coaches. But at the end it looks like you were at fault.”
Marinakis said half the fine was for last weekend’s draw against Levadiakos, with the remaining €200,000 punishment for a recent 1-1 draw against arch rivals Panathinaikos.
Third-placed Olympiakos trail leaders AEK Athens by nine points, with the former deducted three points over fan violence during their 2-1 loss to AEK in February.
Rolls Royce of a player Carrick. Won every honour a footballer can.
@Brian Dunne: Uh, he didn’t win a World Cup.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: as a club player. Playing in England and Europe before you say he hasn’t won la liga
@Brian Dunne: In your original comment, you didn’t specify club football, you just said ‘every honour’.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Well now we have it all cleared up. Cheers!
@Brian Dunne: Thanks for clearing that up Brian. Conor really threw a spanner in the works there. Ruined my Sunday to be honest.
A whopping 1-0 win against the mighty Watford
@Running Down The Wing: Finish 2nd and the goalie gets player of the year says it all!
@DL_8_5: I suppose it’s laughable really since the goalkeeper was actually the best player of the season… imagine, the goalkeeper the best player of the whole season. Madness.
@An Observer2: think it’s more laughable that the guy with the golden boot , PFA awards etc only finishes fourth and by the skin of their teeth