Shut your trap ‘Mister 20 Percent’

Hugo Broos’s agent irks Safa boss with his high pay demand

INCENSED SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan has broken his silence and has for the first time confirmed that he had discussions with Belgian Hugo Broos over the vacant Bafana Bafana coaching job a few days ago.

An irate Jordaan told Sunday Times that he chose to communicate directly with Broos after his representative Gino Laureyssen demanded to be paid 20% of the 64-year-old’s annual salary for the duration of his five-year contract as Bafana coach.

Jordaan’s revelation puts the claims Laureyssen made to various media platforms this week under scrutiny after he said there has been no contact between Safa and Broos since he communicated his client’s interest in the Bafana vacancy. Laureyssen also labelled Safa’s supposed lack of a response as disrespectful to Broos.

Jordaan disputed this and he showed Sunday Times proof of direct interaction between himself and the Belgian coach, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon last month.

“What this guy [Laureyssen] is talking about I do not know,” Jordaan said. I can send you more proof of exchanges between myself and Broos. We have Broos’s numbers and we phoned him directly.

“This guy [Laureyssen] should have waited until he had all the facts before he started talking about us. We will not be led by an agent, Mr 20%.”

When contacted by Sunday Times yesterday afternoon and told that Jordaan was not amused with his utterances, Laureyssen said he had said enough and did not want to comment further.

“No, no no, no, I do not have any answers anymore,” Laureyssen said.

“The case is closed for us, finished. I do not have any comment, so that is easy for you.”

Jordaan said after discussions between himself and Broos reached a stalemate, the two parties decided not to pursue the matter further and this eliminated the Belgian from the race to succeed the sacked Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba.

The Safa president said Laureyssen should have never been given a platform in South Africa to use the search for a new Bafana coach to suit his own narrative.

“We must be the only country in the world that will give an agent a media platform to do this,” he said. “Why does this not happen in rugby and cricket?

“Only South Africa gives an agent so much space to rubbish a home sports body in this manner. It is the only country in the world that does this.

“Did anyone mention the agent’s name when Broos was negotiating to join Cameroon [in February last LOST: Belgian head coach Hugo Broos out of the Bafana job race year]? Did anyone mention the agent’s name when Herve Renard was negotiating to join Morocco [also in February last year]? No.

“In fact, can anyone give me the names of the agents of the coaches of the top 10 countries in the world [on the Fifa rankings]. And yet, in South Africa, we now know that this man is Broos’s agent.

“You will never see this when the rugby and the cricket national teams are looking for a coach. Why?”

Jordaan said he was never going to communicate with a prospective Bafana coach through an agent as there are several conditions linked to the job that only the mentor himself can provide straightforward answers to without clouding issues.

You’ll never see this when rugby and the cricket teams are looking for a coach

He said while he understands the public’s impatience and their desire to see a new man at the helm as soon as possible, Safa were never going to rush to make an appointment as they want Mashaba’s successor to understand from the onset that his job is not just limited to Bafana.

Among other requirements, the new man has to oversee the youth structures, have a hand in development and also ensure that the junior national teams are functioning smoothly.

“In most African countries, the coaches just concentrate on the national teams and nothing else. Whoever comes here must know that his responsibilities will not be limited to Bafana,” said Jordaan.

“These are not discussions you can have with an agent. You can’t hire a doctor through an agent now, can you?

“Will the agent accompany the doctor to work when he has to report for duty at the hospital?”

The new Bafana head coach is expected to be announced some time this coming week.