ATHENS - Olympiacos have announced the dismissal of coach Takis Lemonis.
Following the club's exit from the Champions League to Chelsea last week and recent poor form which has seen them drop to second in the Greek Super League, a meeting was held at the club's headquarters on Tuesday.
That meeting resulted in the Olympiacos board taking the somewhat surprising decision to fire Lemonis for a second time despite the team progressing from the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in nine years under his guidance.
"The team has to change something in order to present itself in a different fashion. In these cases it is coaches who are replaced," said the club's chief executive, Petros Kokkalis, in an official club statement
Lemonis will be replaced by his Spanish assistant Jose Segura for the rest of the season.
"His successor is his assistant until today. We believe that this is the best solution for everyone," added Kokkalis.
"The governing board, having in mind the immediate improvement of the football team for the attainment of their goals for the current period, has decided to approve the ... termination of collaboration with manager Mr Lemonis, whom it thanks for his contribution to date.
"It also decided to allocate his duties to Mr Segura."
Olympiacos chairman Sokratis Kokkalis was reported to be unhappy with the team's performances in the Super League, where they remain one point behind Panathinaikos with six games remaining.
Olympiacos could still win the domestic double as they are also well placed in the cup, having beaten Iraklis 2-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
Segura joined Olympiacos last summer from AEK, where he was Lorenzo Serra Ferrer's assistant.
