Kosmas to Marinakis: “If the product was so corrupt, Olympiacos would not be first by a margin”

The position of AEK in what was mentioned by Vangelis Marinakis at the League’s teleconference, the president and managing director of the “yellow and black” PAE conveyed, George Kosmas.

First, in his introductory speech to the meeting, the president of the League made, among other things, references to the need to upgrade the product and agreement of all PAEs on it and the climate that generally exists with announcements. He also talked about arbitrationmade specific references to AEK-Atromitoswhile he claimed that in “Jedi Koule” and in his confrontation OFI with “Union”, the friends of the home team were “boiling” with the refereeing decisions. In addition, he referred to the procedures for the appointment of a new chief referee, spoke of delays, irregularities, scandals and at the end it was mentioned in the event that the League does not proceed with the definition of matches until these issues are clarified.

“And AEK is completely in agreement with the Professional Football Committee meeting whenever deemed necessary. But since you said about a coup postponement of a previous meeting, let me remind you how the adjourned meeting had been called on the subject of Bennett’s impeachment because he had violated the agreement of the four groups and because AEK came out first and said for God’s sake no Greek referee in Panathinaikos-AEK. And we justified it with the fact that there is a gentlemen’s agreement for foreign referees in these games. We disagreed with the definition of Greek and that is why Bennett came to this position. AEK therefore keeps its word and its agreements. AEK understood that the meeting of the committee to replace Mr. Bennett was set, so from the moment he resigned, we were informed as well as you that it was postponed. Apparently the EPO is in referee search. We don’t know where he’s gone. We believe that in order for the committee to converge, it is good that there has been a period of time during which the names of the candidates have been gathered. To have them in our hands, for each of us to see them and make our choices“, Giorgos Kosmas initially emphasized.

He then referred to what had previously been noted about downgrading/upgrading the product: “Because, Mr. President, you talked about degrading the product. You as the president of the cooperative should be the first to protect the product and not discredit it with statements and announcements. If the product was that corrupt, you wouldn’t be first by a margin. And AEK would not lose crucial points with Panserraikos, OFI. We can talk about arbitration for hours and disagree. We too are asking for a dismissal and a penalty in the first half in the derby with Olympiakos, but we didn’t say anything, we didn’t protest.

But because you also invoked VAR and said they change the lines and you said for the first time about admission of KED. We are talking about a publication, to which it was later added that the scorer would be exposed if the lines were entered correctly. Why don’t we say that too? Because you referred to the VAR lines for offside in our own game.

Mr. President, you also talked about a stadium that was boiling yesterday, in Heraklion. We also hear slogans against refereeing in our own stadium. In the end, OFI congratulated the referee. I say that you have been on the pitches for so many years and you know very well that many times a reverse foul is enough to cause signs. Nothing more happened. We are still dealing with arbitration. You make a fuss before the games are even played. You also did it with the Portuguese referee before the match between us. Did anything happen with the arbitration against you? It didn’t happen. On the contrary, we have complaints. It was an attempt to influence the referee, but we didn’t react, we didn’t create an issue, we don’t want the toxicity. We cannot claim to promote football and at the same time undermine it. We lose, shake hands and leave.

You talked about the leagues abroad. The day before yesterday there was a scandal in England. He wasn’t set up, he made a human error. There the result was altered, here it was not altered. From here on out because we want to move on… You said at some point that the League will not set matches. Is this some proposal on which we are invited to vote;

We are waiting for the EPO to tell us the names of candidate chief referees. The EPO cannot fail to proceed with the procedure for appointing a chief referee. It’s impossible not to have a referee. To set a reasonable period of time within which we must get the names. To have something in our hands, not to shake everything in the air. Finally, I want to emphasize that we have a competitive league and this is proven by the performance of the four teams in Europe».