Panathinaikos coach to go
Following months of ambiguity over his coaching job at Panathinaikos, Alberto Malesani and his club reached an amicable split yesterday, at a meeting in Athens between the Italian and the club’s boss, reports said. It was agreed between the club’s chief, Yiannis Vardinoyiannis, and the Italian, who assumed his coaching position last season, for Malesani to lead Panathinaikos through the season’s remaining two rounds of play. Panathinaikos is locked in a battle for second place and a Champions League berth next season. But the Athens club has just slipped from second place to third, two points behind AEK. The local sports press is reporting that Swede Hans Backe, one of several Scandinavians considered for the job, is likely to sign a deal with Panathinaikos this week. Backe, 54, is also expected to attend the Athens club’s league game against Aegaleo this Sunday. Backe has already held talks with Vardinoyiannis. Panathinaikos, one of the country’s two biggest clubs and its most reliable representative in Champions League history, has watched archrival Olympiakos win nine of the past 10 league titles, including this year’s. Panathinaikos interrupted this run three seasons ago. Malesani went into yesterday’s meeting shortly after returning from a trip to his native Italy, where he has traveled often during the season because, it is said, of unresolved personal issues. The club had warned Malesani it would end his contract if his family matters persisted to interrupt his work. He has repeatedly expressed a wish to carry on, on one occasion, controversially. Earlier this season, when more and more fans were openly expressing their discontent at Malesani’s work at Panathinaikos, the Italian unleashed an explosive and extended verbal attack at a post-match news conference, during which he pointed at what he believed was a detrimental prejudice against coaches in this country for negative team results. Highlighting his point, Malesani reminded that the Athens club had hired and fired countless coaches in recent years. At the time, Malesani’s outburst actually bolstered his general standing and fell in line with the club’s attempted adoption of the coaching position as a job that needs time to produce results. But the administration’s patience ultimately crumbled. According to insiders, Vardinoyiannis had begun considering a possible coach change late last year when the club’s title chances began to drift. Panathinaikos, this season, also failed to make it through the Champions League’s first round of competition, and was ousted from the Greek Cup by second-division club Ergotelis. Former soccer star Michael Laudrup, now coach of Danish club Brondby, with which he has been associated since childhood, was reportedly the first of a few possible replacements approached by Panathinaikos. Local sports media said the Dane kindly rejected the Greek club’s interest, stating that if he were to leave his homeland, it would be to work with one of a few Spanish clubs. Backe’s background includes tenures with several clubs, such as AIK Stockholm, Salzburg – his first coaching venture beyond Scandinavia, in 2000, for a year – followed by Copenhagen, a club with which he raked in several league and cup titles. Backe was an assistant coach for the Swedish national team at the 1990 World Cup and has worked as an assistant coach for the national team below senior level. Panathinaikos has often turned to the Scandinavian transfer market for players over the years. Several signings from the region have enjoyed successful tenures with the Athens club. Moreover, Panathinaikos had considered signing Trond Sollied as coach, before rival club Olympiakos moved in to hire the Norwegian last summer.
