Eymael back in the hunt
THE controversial Luc Eymael is happy to be back in South Africa despite Steve Komphela warning teams on hiring the Belgian, going as far as saying that it would be “naive” and “stupid” to bring him back to the country.
Despite the Golden Arrows’ coach’s reservations, Black Leopards hired Eymael to replace Lionel Soccoia who they fired after five games.
Komphela’s tiff with Eymael started when the Belgian talked about the Kaizer Chiefs job that the former Bafana Bafana captain occupied at the time. Komphela saw it as an insult and unprofessional conduct for Eymael to punt himself for a job that had an occupant. In his previous two stints in the country, managing Polokwane City and then jumping to Bloemfontein Celtic only for that move to be blocked, and returning to lead Free State Stars to Nedbank Cup glory, earned the Belgian friends as much as enemies. “I would like to thank the Thidiela family for the chance they have given me to come back to South Africa,” Eymael said.
“This is my second home. Some people appreciate me, some don’t.
“We were in touch since I was in Egypt, they knew I wasn’t very happy where I was. I finished my contract and I didn’t want to continue there. I wanted to come back to South Africa, I spoke with the club when coach (Dylan) Kerr left. We couldn’t agree. It was in May, but my contract was finishing in June. But finally, after so many years we reached an agreement.”
Lidoda Duvha, who have been trying to get Eymael for a long time, weren’t moved by Komphela’s words.
“We serve Black Leopards,” Leopards’ general manager, Tshifhiwa Thidiela, said. “That’s where our mandate starts and ends. We cannot go and entertain what everyone is saying. Everyone has a reason to say what they are saying. But we cannot go and tackle all the world’s problems and bring them to us. We can’t go now and start focusing on things that are happening outside. I believe that that’s outside of Black Leopards and we aren’t involved in that anyway.”