© EuroFootball.com
On Friday, the Greek champions of Piraeus announced that they have relieved Norwegian Trond Sollied of his duties as head coach, and soon after it was announced that the new strategist would be Greek Takis Lemonis, who left "Xanthi" last week.
The dismissal of T. Sollied was not unexpected news, as the Greek media has been constantly reporting similar information in recent weeks.
The Norwegian took over at "Olympiacos" in July 2005. It was expected that with this strategist's help, the Piraeus club would become not only a superclub on a Greek scale, but also a powerful force throughout Europe.
Although the Greek club led by T. Sollied easily achieved a double in the 2005-2006 season - winning the Greek championship and the country's cup, but this season, with a five-point lead from the closest pursuer in the "Super" league, the team's leaders were disappointed by poor performances in Europe.
The "Olympiacos" players led by the Norwegian managed to achieve only one victory in the UEFA Champions League in both seasons against the not strongest Madrid "Real", and twice they finished last in their group.
T. Lemonis is not a new face among the "Olympiacos" ranks - for eight years he represented the Piraeus club as a player, and later until 2002 he was also the team's coach.
The 46-year-old coach's debut at the team's helm will take place on January 7th, when he will have to lead the team against his former club "Xanthi".
