This in The Observer:
To many Manchester United fans, Olympiakos were just another team. They are certainly not to the Greeks. Winners of the Greek League for the past six seasons, Olympiakos cast a longer shadow over their footballing country than even United do over theirs. And what extraordinary events are happening in Greek football. 'Meltdown' would be to undercook them. Yet they could be instructive because higher profile leagues may be heading in the same way.
Not the whole way, one hopes. To imagine Greek football, think of the recent Nationwide League/Granada imbroglio and add the words 'Armageddon' and 'two more shots of ouzo please'.
If you thought Sir Alex Ferguson's old stopwatch routine a referee-influencing talking point, then try this from Angelos Filippides owner of Panathanaikos, who have outperformed Olympiakos in Europe in recent years but keep finishing second to them in the league. 'Olympiakos,' Filippides said, 'have won the last five titles thanks to systematic support by officials.'
If you thought the Bernard Tapie/Marseille story of the 1990s a big scandal - a couple of European and French ties involved - try this from Triantis Triantafyllopoulos, a respected Greek investigative journalist and BBC World Service broadcaster. Investigating claims of the existence of a mafia of wealthy club board members and senior referees - an organisation code-named 'The Hut' - and drawing on secretly recorded conversations between club figures and referees, Triantafyllopoulos concluded:
'It has become evident that the majority of matches, mainly but not solely in the top division, and especially matches that would decide top and bottom position in each division, were totally under their [The Hut's] control.'
AEK Athens, whose name cropped up during the Tapie investigation, were again in the news this autumn when their president, Makis Psomiadis, who sports a walrus moustache, likes a whisky or 10 and wears a large cigar as a permanent extension to his hand, was jailed for 12 years for forgery. He is all right now, though. He was let out after seven days after producing a doctor's certificate for TB, and is now doing well on his normal medication.
If that should put his great rival, the Olympiakis owner, Socrates 'Rocco' Kokkalis, in a shining light, it shouldn't. Kokkalis is under investigation for 'espionage against the state' - selling business secrets to the East German Stasi some years ago is the specific charge.