Apollon deny Iraqi players veto appointment of Israeli coach

APOLLON Limassol have angrily denied rumours that their Iraqi players protested against the possibility of the club hiring an Israeli manager.

Former Chairman Freddie John Paul, still active within the club, yesterday told the Mail that Eli Gutman, “is just one of 30 potential candidates we are looking at.”

Ten days ago, Bernd Stange left the club after two years as manager after both parties agreed to terminate his contract.

Currently in fourth place in the Championship, eleven points behind leaders APOEL, Apollon are in the process of going through a shortlist in order to find a successor.

According to reports in the Israeli press, Apollon’s five Iraqi players are strongly against hiring Gutman, and have even been threatened by the Iraq Football Association that they would be banned from the national side if they played under Gutman.

“This story is totally ridiculous and without a shred of truth,” Paul stated. “A special committee will decide on who the next manager will be and I would like to point out that nationality is not even an issue.”

He added: “Decisions on who and who not to hire are never discussed with players.”

Former assistant to World Cup-winning coach Franz Beckenbauer, Horst Koppel is currently believed to be the front-runner for the vacant position. The former German international has previously worked with Fortuna Dusseldorf, Armenia Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Moenchengladbach, before spending last season with an Abu Dhabi club.

Gutman last season coached Enosis Neon Paralimniou having previously coached several of Israel’s top sides.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.