PAOK fans stop coach Markopoulos's move to Olympiakos

By George Georgakopoulos

Olympiakos is once again in the lookout for a new coach after the refusal of PAOK to release Soulis Markopoulos, while Panathinaikos defeated Kolossos on Rhodes on Monday to become the only team to double its victories.

Markopoulos reportedly came to Athens late on Sunday, following Olympiakos’s shock loss at Nea Kifissia, and agreed to take over at the Piraeus club some 10 days after the resignation of Giorgos Bartzokas.

PAOK was also said to have been inclined to letting Markopoulos go on the condition of his waiving the demand for the 180,000 euros owed to him by the Thessaloniki club. However PAOK supporters rushed to the emergency meeting of the PAOK administration in the early hours of Monday and forced PAOK to issue a statement that Markopoulos is going nowhere for the next five years, given he has got a contract up to 2019.

That has left Olympiakos with its third refusal after those by Vincent Collet and Aleksandar Djordjevic, while the club has clearly seen that caretaking coach Milan Tomic cannot lead the team for long.

Compounding Olympiakos’s misery from the cup exit to Panathinaikos and the league loss to Nea Kifissia has been the impeccable start to the season by Panathinaikos, which on Monday saw off Kolossos 81-61 on Rhodes in its most emphatic win so far.

Also on Monday Panionios sacked its coach Thanassis Papachatzis, after just 12 days and two games at the helm.

Greek teams will now turn their attention to their European games this week, that see Panathinaikos visit Bayern Munich on Thursday and Olympiakos host Laboral Kutxa for the Euroleague, while PAOK entertains Zielona Gora on Wednesday for the Eurocup.