Mandalos: “How about four Greek referees on the pitch and a foreigner as VAR?”

The Vice President of the KED/EPO, Stavros Mandalos, gave a report on the first round in his interview with ERA SPORT, in which, in addition to the answers he gave about the control of the refereeing and the escape of Bennett, he revealed: among other things that the Central Referees Commission is preparing the Greek referees for the big games in the league and cup in January.

“We are observing a gradual progress by the Greeks in this first round of the championship and that gives us strength for further work in the future. Regarding your question whether the championship will end if no foreign referees come, as was written. “I will tell you in the press.

The truth is that there are difficulties with the arrival of foreign referees in January for various reasons. From the championship games in their countries to the holidays of many or injuries, so I would say how about four Greeks on the pitch with a foreigner in the VAR? I think we should finally give the Greeks a vote of confidence.

It was a difficult first round with Mr Bennett leaving and Mr Freudfeld joining, so there was a transition period. KED organizes seminars so that we can spread the message for uniform whistles.

Now, by decision of the EPO, we will collect controversial phases and analyze them via YouTube. “It is important that the referee is in the right place through his training and blows the whistle correctly and evenly,” Tuna among other things.

When asked if he heads the KED, as Olympiacos claims, the EPA official replied:

“The key to refereeing was with Mr. Bennett and now with Mr. Freudfeld. It makes me sad that Olympiacos has me on the newspaper list, but they are wrong. All other teams see our efforts to get a good Greek referee. So.” I’m a vice president and a coach. In fact, I am helping the president of KED by providing him with atmosphere since he is a foreigner in our country.”

Regarding the rumor that the arbitration process is controlled by AEK, the answer from the Kavaliotis agent was clear.

“We have to leave the coffee shop talk in Greece behind us if we want to move forward. If that was the case, can you tell me why AEK then lost four points to Agrinio and Serres? We moved into the second round of the most competitive league ever, and that it is the truth and not the rumor you mentioned. The Greek referee, as you said, plays with the gun to his temple, so under pressure. The pressure creates conditions for harder work and that is what we do at KED with the referees.”

Mandalos was also asked about the famous offside lines, which caused a lot of discussion: “Indeed there is a discussion. But there is also the truth that no foreign hand sets the famous lines. Everything is done according to protocol. The rest is up for discussion.” he said characteristically.

The vice president of the KED, referring to the contacts with the bodies after the threats that led to the abstention, emphasized that they had confidence in the authorities after they had promised them the installation of cameras in the changing rooms, the presence of a police officer in front of the Changing rooms and discreet monitoring of referees’ taxis to and from the pitch.

He added that incidents of violence and threats threatened the referee’s family, while he revealed that he was also the victim of a car theft at the time his assignment was suspended in Athens. Finally, he made an appeal to everyone and, significantly, said: “Let us work hard and judge ourselves. But please let us have a proper work environment and not a toxic one.”