Joel Griffiths: Tigana has been sacked

It has been a confusing 48 hours for Shenhua, with under pressure coach Jean Tigana set to be replaced by star striker Nicolas Anelka after missing Friday's league game.Shanghai Shenhua striker Joel Griffiths believes manager Jean Tigana has been sacked by the club following a confusing 48 hours in China.The former Fulham and Bordeaux boss' position at Shenhua has been in doubt all week, with three French assistants whom he brought to China sacked in midweek following player discontent.The club's star striker Nicolas Anelka was named as a player-assistant coach on Thursday, before he claimed on Twitter that he'd become the team's manager."It's official. I just become the new player-manager of Shanghai Shenhua," Anelka wrote which created confusion on Tigana's situation, and this only intensified after the French coach missed Friday's 1-0 loss to Tianjin Teda.Shenhua haven't clarified the situation on Tigana's future, with it understood a severance package for the Frenchman remains in dispute but Australian striker Griffiths told AFP after Friday's game he said it was "obvious" he'd been dismissed.On Tigana's future, he said: "It's obvious I think at the moment. What you see is the reality of football. He's not here so we have to deal with the new coaches coming in."Griffiths continued that he'd already wished Tigana all the best in his future endeavours."We have a new coach, new staff, so hopefully on Sunday we can meet them and go on from there. I saw [Tigana] today. I wished him all the best in whatever he does. That was it. This is football," he said.Shenhua are currently 12th in China's Super League with just one win from their opening six games.