Self-confident enough and fully aware of the circumstances in Olympiacos and our country, Marco Silva, during his presentation by Olympiacos FC, showed to be ready to meet the great challenge of taking the helm of Olympiacos. His presentation was held at the club’s HQs, in Alexandras Square, and Mr Silva underlined his feeling of pride for coming to work in our country in such a difficult conjuncture.
Olympiacos Communication Director, Mr Karapapas, welcome the Press and the Legend’s members of Administration and gave swiftly the floor to the Club’s CEO, Mr Giannis Vretzos, for a brief welcome to Mr Marco Silva.
“We are here today for the presentation of Olympiacos new head coach, Mr Marco Silva, and given that this is our first meeting with the Press for the 2015-2016 season, here are also present Olympiacos Vice President and Head of Sports, Mr Michalis Kountouris, and our new Sporting Director, Grigoris Georgatos. Marco Silva is one of the most important coaches in Portugal and a rising star in Europe; he has been our first and sole candidate for the Olympiacos bench since day one, because we believe that his career so far, his successes and aspirations do fully match our project for the Olympiacos squad”, was Mr Vrentzos’ original remarks.
The floor was later given to Mr Michalis Kountouris: “I would like to welcome our new coach for my part, and wish him the best of luck. There is not much to say, besides, it is too early. What I want to say is that it took me just a brief chat with our new head coach to see that he is a very smart man, apart from a young and hard-working individual. The only thing that we have to do from our side is to help him prepare the squad and, during pre-season, provide him with all proper tools to build the team we all want”.
Grigoris Goergatos, from his side, stressed the following: “I want also to welcome our new coach. I wish him the best of luck. I would like to say a couple of words more. Most of you know me already; I have been next to this side for many years. I would like to say that it is important to have people who love this club so much. I want to pinpoint that one can see the difference between this club and others. Once you put on this jersey, as a new transfer or a newly signed coach, once you step in the Karaiskakis Stadium or Rentis Training Ground, you feel the power and the pride; strong feelings that show how big this club is. During my spell at the academy, I used to see that something big was being built and that the club was growing stronger and stronger. And this is very important. Our coach will have all the support and assistance he has to receive. If I am here right now, it is because everybody showed me the love and mutual help within the club and the shared joy as a result of this club’s achievements. So, I don’t like much talking and work speak louder than words. Thus, we have already started working with our new coach. I just want to say the fans that the only thing we will do it to help, by way of our work, Olympiacos even more and nothing else.”
Then, it was time for Mr Marco Silva to step on and he stressed in his original welcome: “I apologise for not speaking Greek and using my mother tongue to address you. I want to say how proud I feel for joining Olympiacos. I feel really happy because I know that this is the biggest club in Greece and one of the top clubs in Europe. I feel proud and happy for being here in this great club. I would like to thank the President, the Administration, all those who have entrusted both me and my assistants. I thank them deeply for their confidence and, starting today, I want to return this trust by way of my work and the good results that will come for our side.
I want to add that I am very well aware of the responsibility I have assumed, since I know how fervent Olympiacos fans are and the love they cherish for their club. I want to work daily to the benefit of Olympiacos, to use all means to that purpose; from my side and the players’, we will do everything it takes to bring Olympiacos even higher, namely to succeed in all our goals: to win both the Greek Championship and Cup, and to have a great European campaign.
I know that the important thing is not only to finish the year as title-holders, but also to give our fans the ability to enjoy beautifully delivered football. Winning titles is not the sole thing that Olympiacos fans demand. This has been the case in recent years and we want to keep it like that. What we want is to see the fans attending the matches to support a skillful, offensive-minded side.”
Then, it was time for questions from the Press to Mr. Silva.
When asked about transfers of top players that Olympiacos needs, he said: “All those who love Olympiacos understand that the side needs players that can help. What is important is for players to be more famous when they leave the club rather than when they join it. I don’t believe that I am going to ask payers anything else than giving their 100% and keep striving for the best.”
For his galloping career as a coach and whether he has spoke with Zardim and Pereira: “I didn’t speak with Zardim. I spoke with Pereira… we discussed a few things. A coach always wants to become better and I feel really happy for taking finally a big step forward and for having the necessary conditions and assets to move forward”.
On the hard conditions in our country, he said: “I understand the current state of affairs and I am concerned with current developments. I wish everything would go fine. However, that didn’t influence my decision. On the contrary, I feel really proud for coming here in such a difficult conjuncture.”
The floor was then given to Mr Vrentzos, who clarified the following: “certainly, there is an issue during recent discussions as a result of some uncertainty. We are sure that we have the prerequisites to move forwards and the proof is that Marco is here. The first point of difficulty is that while a crisis rages here, football flourishes abroad. A medium size English club has more commercial revenues and sponsors than all Greek sides if put together. The second has to do with taxation. While Olympiacos tries to attract top players, taxation is very high and provides no incentives for them to come. It is as high as 50% and represents great part of our budget. We have paid, over the past years, some 90 mil. Euros in taxes. Let see what other clubs have paid and not”.
On the issue of Academies and U20 team, he stressed: “I will certainly follow the course of U20 team, and anyone who stands out and my help us, will be invited to join”. Then, Grigoris Georgatos intervened to make clear that the First Team and the Academy is a single entity and himself, he has discussed this issue with the coach and agreed that priority will be now given to the First Team and they will later meticulously review the issue of Academies.
On his colleagues from Portugal who have worked in Olympiacos and their feedback on the club: “I am not concerned with what happened with Leonardo Zardim and Vitor Pereira. These were two different cases. The first left during the season and the second won titles. I have my own approach. I believe in hard work and team effort to bring success.”
On whether he will put emphasis, apart from the Academies, on players born in Greece. “yes. This is something I want to do; to focus on our own children. It was abet of mine during my time in Sporting. I did there as well. We will try to do it here also. This is not simple. It does not happen overnight and one cannot just promote kids from the Academies to the First Team.”
