Coaches queue to quit
Uruguayan Sergio Markarian quit as coach of Panathinaikos yesterday, claiming he needed a rest after only six months in charge. «I want to take a rest for some months,» Markarian said. «I needed to rest after my exit from the Paraguayan national team but there was a big opportunity at Panathinaikos and I said yes. «The decision (to resign) was my own,» the coach told local media. Markarian is not the only coach to leave his team at the end of the season. Fernando Santos, the coach of runner-up AEK, will also leave and PAOK coach Dusan Bajevic will announce his resignation on Monday. Markarian, who joined Panathinaikos midway through December after the resignation of Yiannis Kyrastas, guided the team into the last eight of the Champions League and third place in the Greek first division. The veteran coach got into trouble with authorities in March over a verbal assault on a referee in a stormy match draw against Olympiakos. He was fined and banned from the touchline for the team’s remaining games. Markarian delivered a parting shot at football authorities in Greece. «If it wasn’t for what is going on behind the scenes, I would be the champion of Greece now,» he claimed. (Combined reports) Seeing as he couldn’t tamper with the sacred and change the date of the Resurrection, he gave us two holidays instead. Why fight over one when you can have two? Magic.
