Humiliated Ranieri sacked as Greece coach
By Tom Webber
Nov 15, 2014 12:46:31
The 63-year-old has been dismissed having failed to guide the Euro 2004 winners to victory in any of their first four European Championship qualifiers
Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as Greece coach following their humiliating 1-0 Euro 2016 qualifier defeat to minnows Faroe Islands.
The former Monaco boss replaced Fernando Santos at the helm following the World Cup but has been removed from the post after just four games, with the 2004 European champions placed bottom of Group F with a single point.
"I have no words to explain what happened," the soon-to-be-axed coach told reporters after the defeat.
"We all wanted to record our first victory in the group. But the Faroese deserved to win as they created more chances to score. When the qualifiers started nobody believed we would find ourselves in this situation.
"We were wrong in believing that was a straightforward group. We are last in our group because that is what we deserve. The coach is always responsible for that."
Twelve hours later, Ranieri was unemployed after his €1.6 million two-year contract was terminated with immediate effect.
Following the 63-year-old's dismissal, Greece Football Federation president Giorgos Sarris apologised to fans of the national team and placed the blame for poor performances firmly at Ranieri's feet.
"Following this devastating result for the national team, I take full responsibility for the most unfortunate choice of coach, which has resulted in such a poor image of the national team being put before the fans," Sarris said in a statement.
"The governing board will convene and take responsibility among all the members to make the necessary changes needed to avoid a repeat of such an embarrassing night."
