Turkish icon Fatih Terim has been announced as the new coach for Panathinaikos, who shockingly sacked Ivan Jovanovic after two and a half years at the helm.

The Greens made the decision to part ways with their Serbian manager just one day after Christmas, a surprising decision that has divided Panathinaikos supporters.

Jovanovic has been the club’s most successful manager of the last decade and, arguably, one of its best in its history (certainly one of its greatest to never win the league).

During his tenure, Jovanovic guided the “Trifylli” to a Greek Cup victory in 2022, while leading them last season to their closest push for the league title since they last won it in the 2009-10 season.

His first half of this campaign was also very productive, guiding Panathinaikos into Europe for the first time since 2016/17 as well as keeping them well and truly in the title race for this term (currently sitting one point off first).

Despite all these successes, Jovanovic has been shown the door and reports say a major reason is due to Panathinaikos’ loss to Maccabi Haifa in the final group stage game of the Europa League.

The result meant the club crashed out of Europe completely instead of going down to the Europa Conference League as was expected of them.

Another possible factor has been the Greens’ performances in the derby games, in which they recorded two losses, a draw and a victory over Olympiacos which was awarded to them because of a firecracker that injured left back Juankar.

With January littered with derby matches and the European exit still fresh, it is argued that the managerial switch has been done to refresh the team ahead of their push for the championship in the second half of the season.

It is therefore clear that the expectation on Mr Terim is to win the league, and his past achievements certainly attest he is capable of it.

The 70-year-old coach has had an extensive career that has seen him achieve incredible results with Galatasaray and Turkey.

Across his four stints as Galatasaray manager, he won eight league titles, three Turkish Cups, and most notably the UEFA Cup in 1999-2000 (now known as the Europa League).

Along with that, Terim also reached the semi-finals with Turkey at the Euros in 2008.

The biggest question on Terim is whether he can get back up to speed quickly, given he has not been a manager since January 2022 when he was relieved from his duties in his fourth and final managerial spell at Galatasaray.

The club wished the best for Jovanovic in an official statement, claiming that the door will remain open for him in the future, while also welcoming Terim in a separate statement as he takes charge.

Jovanovic brought the Greens back to the heights it belonged at during his stint, and it is now up to Terim to take over the reins and finish the job the Serbian started in 2021.