Aris and Panserraikos sack their coaches
Two Super League coaches lost their jobs at the start of week, even though the championship is just five rounds from completion.
On March 7 Aris announced the end of coach Yiannis Michalitsos’s tenure on the club’s bench, while the following day Panserraikos ended Momcilo Vukotic’s employment at the league’s bottom club.
Michalitsos had taken over as caretaker coach after the resignation of Hector Raul Cuper in January and his initial success led to Aris appointing him as regular manager until the end of the season.
However a string of negative results, starting with elimination from the Europa League by Manchester City, the draws with Atromitos and Larissa and then the home loss to Iraklis on March 5, made the veteran Aris defender?s sacking inevitable.
“Aris feels the need to thank Yiannis Michalitsos, who has once again put himself at the club’s disposal,» the club’s statement read. Youth team coach Nikos Passialis has been overseeing the team’s training for the time being, the club added.
Michalitsos’s statement after the match with Iraklis that Cuper had set survival at the Super League and not the playoffs as the team’s target at the start of the season, did not help the Greek coach’s case at all.
Panserraikos is effectively relegated from the Super League as it is 11 points from safety with five games left to play, and Vukotic was never seen to have gelled with the Serres club.
The 3-0 loss at Olympiakos Volou was the last straw.
