Grammenos and Skibbe set to end cooperation

In the coming days, Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) president Evangelos Grammenos and Greek national team head coach Michael Skibbe are preparing to meet, with the pair set to discuss ending their cooperation.

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After losing to Hungary 1:2 in Budapest in September, the EPO warned Skibbe that positive results are required in the UEFA Nations League if he’s to keep his job, however the Ethniki Omada performed terribly in the two October fixtures. While the team squeezed past the Hungarians 1:0 in Athens, it was a different story in Tampere, as Greece fell 0:2 to hosts Finland with a shocking display. The EPO’s patience has finally run out and Skibbe’s fate is practically sealed.

According to reports, EPO president Evangelos Grammenos will hold a meeting with Skibbe in the coming days, in which the two will attempt to find a way to end their cooperation with immediate effect while also agreeing on a compensation fee. The EPO Board of Directors will probably announce Skibbe’s departure when they meet on October 25, but before that happens, Grammenos and Skibbe must mutually agree to cancel the 53-year old German’s contract. Unfortunately for the EPO, there is no clause in Skibbe’s contract which allows the organisation to release him for free, so compensation has to be paid.

At the moment, 65-year old Angelos Anastasiadis is the clear favourite to take the reins from Skibbe, however Laszlo Boloni and even well-known Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas are also high up the EPO’s list of possible candidates. Villas-Boas, who at the age of 40 has already coached Porto, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Zenit Saint Petersburg, has been unemployed since leaving his post at Shanghai SIPG in 2017 and is in the mix. Nevertheless, the EPO is running on a tight budget, something which severely lowers his chances of managing the Greek national team. The federation is supposedly prepared to pay the new coach between 500,000 and 600,000 euros per year (around what Skibbe receives now).

In the event that no replacement is appointed ahead of the upcoming Nations League matches against Finland and Estonia at the Olympic Stadium in November, assistant coach Kostas Tsanas is expected to temporarily be at the helm.

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: to10.gr

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