Stars coach rips into Komphela
Eymael revives war after cup victory
FREE State Stars coach Luc Eymael took a brazen dig at Steve Komphela after winning the Nedbank Cup on Saturday‚ openly rubbing it in that the former Kaizer Chiefs coach had not won a trophy in his career.
Eymael has been involved in a running battle with Komphela‚ and Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane‚ who have accused Stars’ outspoken coach of campaigning for the job of coach at Chiefs.
The Belgian‚ after Stars beat Maritzburg United 1-0 in the Nedbank final at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night for Eymael’s first trophy in South Africa‚ could not resist a dig at Komphela.
Eymael has been followed by controversy since arriving in South Africa two years ago.
He was involved in a protracted legal wrangle over obligations after leaving Polokwane City in March 2017 and joining Bloemfontein Celtic the following day‚ and eventually had to buy himself out of his contract.
Reflecting on his short stints at Polokwane and Celtic‚ Eymael said: “Polokwane City was my decision. It was perhaps not the best decision that I have taken.
“But I think I participated a lot in the ranking of Polokwane last season [sixth place].
“Celtic was another story. I got bad advice and I went there.
“From a distance‚ what I succeeded to do with the boys – because they are not [Lionel] Messi and I am just a coach‚ and coaching from the stands is very difficult – was that we saved Celtic.
“And now I came to Free State Stars‚ second year in South Africa‚ one trophy.
“I know some of the guys who have worked 13 years without winning a trophy.”
Komphela resigned last month having not won a trophy in almost three seasons at Chiefs‚ and has yet to win silverware in his career.
Eymael again said that he had not been contacted by Chiefs about the job vacated by Komphela.
He said if he still does not hear anything from Amakhosi in the next week‚ he will commit himself without question to completing the year left on his contract at Stars‚ with an option to renew for a year.
He revealed that two or three months ago Stars general manager Rantsi Mokoena increased Eymael’s remuneration for next season’s deal.
Eymael began his press conference asking if anyone from the Cape Times was present‚ before taking the paper to task for apparently calling him a “villain” in a pre-match story.
● Marc Strydom is in Cape Town as a guest of Nedbank.