Oscar Garcia joins the Olympiacos coaching merry-go-round
Oscar Garcia joins the Olympiacos coaching merry-go-round
Reigning Greek champions Olympiacos recently appointed 44-year old Spaniard Oscar Garcia as their new manager, replacing former boss Takis Lemonis. Amazingly, Garcia becomes Olympiacos’ eighth head coach in the past 18.5 months, something which comes across as astounding.
Since taking over in 2010, Olympiacos president Evangelos Marinakis has witnessed a number of coaches come and go, seeing fourteen managers lead the club in a mere eight years. While his ruthlessness has resulted in the Piraeus club winning the Greek championship and competing in the Champions League on a regular basis, it’s practically impossible for any head coach to settle into the job before he receives the sack. In only three seasons (2011/2012, 2013/2014, 2015/2016) have Olympiacos kept the same boss until the end of the campaign.
Marinakis’ first victim was German Ewald Lienen, who got the boot after Olympiacos failed to progress in the Europa League. Incredibly, the German lasted only two months in Piraeus. Well-known Spaniard Ernesto Valverde was drafted in by Marinakis as Lienin’s replacement, steering Olympiacos to a comfortable title win in the Super League thirteen points clear of nearest challengers Panathinaikos.
Valverde turned out to be a real success during his second stint at the Thrylos, winning the Super League for a second consecutive season in 2012. Unfortunately for Olympiacos, he then decided to travel back to his native Spain. Next up - Leonardo Jardim, the current head coach of AS Monaco in France. He joined in June 2012, only to be relieved of his duties in January 2013. Despite leading the Super League and qualifying for the Europa League from the Champions League group stages, he was controversially sent packing.
Antonis Nikopolidis occupied the position of head coach for two months, until Michel Gonzalez was gifted the role of permanent Olympiacos manager. He also did a number of good things in Greece, earning another two Super League triumphs for the Thrylos. Eventually, Michel lost his job following a shock defeat to outsiders Platanias on January 6, 2015.
A day later, Vitor Pereira took over the reigns. The Portuguese specialist impressed in his five months with Olympiacos, achieving triumphs in both the Super League and the Greek Cup. Sadly for him, that wasn’t enough for the club’s demanding board. Pereira was the next to be given a plane ticket away from Greece, losing out in favour of new manager Marco Silva.
Silva put pen to paper on a two year contract, arriving at Olympiacos with real hope of powering the club to success on the European stage. Silva helped the Thrylos win seventeen straight Super League matches (a European record), even defeating the mighty Arsenal 3:2 on the road in the Champions League. Olympiacos did fail to make it out of the Champions League group, but the team easily won the domestic championship at a canter. In June 2016, Silva himself decided to quit as coach.
After Silva departed Piraeus, there have been seven coaching changes at Olympiacos in less than two years. In came Victor Sanchez, a move which proved to be a disaster. Sanchez was Olympiacos boss for around two months, getting booted out after a loss to Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Champions League qualifying stages.
Paulo Bento, the well-known Portuguese head coach, steadied the ship at Olympiacos when receiving his appointment in August 2016. He stayed at the club until March of the next year, becoming the next to be sacked after making controversial statements to the media following a loss to PAOK in Thessaloniki.
Vasilis Vouzas served as caretaker manager, later stepping down to allow Takis Lemonis to formally be the new coach. Lemonis took Olympiacos to a seventh consecutive Super League title, but he was then kicked out to let Albanian Besnik Hasi take his position.
To be honest, Hasi did not have a pleasant time of it in Piraeus. Yes, he got Olympiacos back into the Champions League group stages, but Hasi contributed to the Thrylos’ worst start to a Super League season in memory. It all culminated in a dramatic 2:3 derby loss to AEK Athens, and Hasi was given the sack almost immediately after that defeat.
Who replaced Hasi? Takis Lemonis. The experienced 57-year old got the club back on track in the Super League, opening up a one point gap at the top of the table. Many were surprised when Oscar Garcia was drafted in to replace Lemonis, but time will tell whether Olympiacos’ recent managerial decision was a successful one.