Hearings frustrate Eymael

Johannesburg - The Premier Soccer League has denied football supporters what could have become a classic grudge match on Sunday afternoon by not allowing Luc Eymael to register with his new club, Bloemfontein Celtic. This means the Belgian will not face his former club Polokwane City on Sunday, so there may not be any drama at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium after all.

If fact, there is no end in sight for Eymael. His case continues after it was postponed yet again to Thursday, meaning he cannot be on the bench.

Eymael will now have missed three crucial league games for ­Siwelele since he joined them last month – he missed the draw against Cape Town City, and he will not be on the bench on Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday, Celtic visit Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld Stadium and he will still not be on the touchline.

Really frustrated

City have successfully ­interdicted Eymael’s move to Celtic after his shock ­departure from the Limpopo side. They argued that his contract was still valid when he “left”.

His lawyer, Mandla Tshabalala, told City Press that all the coach wants is to do his job from the bench.

“You can imagine how frustrating this has been for him,” said Tshabalala.

“He wants to help Celtic win matches, but he cannot do that at the moment. He is really frustrated.”

Tshabalala could not say if the case would come to an end on Thursday.

“We went there [to the hearing] on Thursday [March 30], hoping it would [come to an] end, and when we finished at 18:00, we were still not finished. In law, you can not be certain, but we are hopeful.”

City boss Johnny Mogaladi said they were fighting for people to respect contracts.

“We went there [to the hearing] to fight for the contract that has been signed between us and the coach to be ­honoured and respected.

Relegation zone

“And I hope that our counterpart at Celtic will do likewise and not get him involved in their planning and training, ­because his registration has not been approved by the league,” said Mogaladi.

Despite the boardroom drama, Sunday afternoon’s clash should still be entertaining.

City want to show they have moved on without him, while Celtic will be fighting his battle on the field.

Celtic need all the points to move away from the relegation zone, while City, who last won a league game in December, want to go back to their winning ways and consolidate their position in the top eight.