Anorthosis apologise to fans for 8-1 defeat

Anorthosis Famagusta yesterday issued a written apology to its fans following their embarrassing 8-1 defeat at the hands of title chasers APOEL.
The defeat, which came a week before their final game of the season this Saturday, equaled the heaviest defeats suffered by the refugee club way back in 1937 when they also lost 8-1 to APOEL and in 1934 when they went down to the same scoreline against Aris Limassol. Anorthosis’ biggest defeats where 10-0 at the hands of Sparta Prague and Bayern Munich back in 1964 and 1983 respectively.
Yesterday, angry fans confronted some of the players at the club’s training ground and even managed to force several players to remove their jerseys telling them that they were not worthy to wear them.
Even former Anorthosis striker Fivos Vrahimis couldn’t hold in his frustration, taking to Facebook after the game to post “We have become shameful! This time, we will not stand idle Mr. Poullaides. ANORTHOSIS IS A HISTORIC CLUB.”
In the wake of the defeat yesterday, Anorthosis chairman Christos Poullaides informed club official Achilleas Nicolaou to set up an internal inquiry to root out what exactly led the team to capitulate in such a manner.
“The board would like to first of all unreservedly and sincerely apologise to the fans of our team. We unacceptably shamed them,” read a club announcement yesterday. “We also want to offer a special apology to those who turned up in the pouring rain at the GSP Stadium to witness the worst footballing spectacle performed by Anorthosis.”
Anorthosis coach Nicos Kostenoglou, who has already confirmed that he will leave in the summer, has seen his side win just one game since arriving two months ago. The Greek coach and former AEK Athens player was almost lost for words during the post-match press conference telling reporters, “I can’t really say much after such a game. We deservedly lost the game. Things got worse for us when we were reduced to ten men but that doesn’t excuse the scoreline. We never responded to the demands of the game.”
Since the start of 2014, Anorthosis – who are struggling to curb debts of around €15million due to years of bad management – have won just four games, drawn four and lost 15, scoring 26 times and conceding 50.
The Anorthosis announcement continued, “This a dark page in our football club’s history. To lose a game is one thing but to shame the name and jersey of Anorthosis is something else entirely. This embarrassing defeat was the pinnacle of shameful season. But we will not let this slide. There is accountability; it will be sought and dealt with at all level. The club president has already ordered an investigation into the cause of the defeat.
“The people of Anorthosis have been shamed and for that, we are to blame and we understand their feelings completely. We are determined to cleanse the club of this shame. We are obliged to everything that is possible to build a team that will make the fans proud. Planning for next season is already underway and despite the financial difficulties the board will work towards targeting better days for Anorthosis. And we will also protect the team from anyone wanting to hurt them.”
Finally, the club sent out a plea to the fans to put the defeat behind them and get behind the club. “We want the fans to remain our allies. We cannot accomplish our goals without our fans. Anorthosis needs its supporters now more than ever.”