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Johannesburg - Polokwane City have lodged a complaint with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) regarding their “former” coach, Luc Eymael.
The Belgian resigned from his post on Thursday and joined Bloemfontein Celtic. Eymael was seen taking notes in the stands at the Nedbank Cup clash between Celtic and Buya Msuthu on Saturday.
But City insists Eymael still has a valid contract with them and, as a result, cannot work anywhere else.
PSL acting chief executive officer Mato Madlala on Saturday acknowledged receipt of the letter.
“I can confirm that Polokwane [City] have written a letter to the league and I have forwarded it to our legal department to deal with it. Unfortunately, I cannot divulge the content of the letter as they did not give me permission to do so,” said Madlala.
A high-ranking City official said they did not accept Eymael’s resignation and they still regarded him as their coach.
The official, who did not want to be identified, said they wanted the league to prevent the Belgian from registering with another club until they had settled the matter.
“We asked the league to intervene and we even attached a copy of the contract in our letter.
“The two parties must sit down and agree to part ways, like we did when we entered into a contract with him.
Decides to walk out
“We still have outstanding issues with him as he owes us money that we had lent him. Our agreement with him was that we were going to deduct the money from his salary until the end of May, but he left after just one deduction.
“How are we going to recoup the outstanding balance?” asked the official.
“This practice of coaches leaving as they wish when they still have valid contracts must come to an end. This is a breach of contract. If we had fired him, we were going to be accused of unfair dismissal.
“We hope the league will not allow this practice to continue, it is not fair.”
The official said the league needed to protect clubs as well.
“Everyone has got rights, except clubs. Players always go to the Dispute Resolution Chamber when clubs do not honour their contracts. But what happens when coaches don’t do the same?
"Where is justice here? We have spent a lot on him and he just decides to walk out.”
The official said Eymael’s resignation was not surprising as the desired results were not forthcoming. The club has gone seven matches without a victory – they last won in early December.
City chairperson Johnny Mogaladi said they were still consulting with the league and their legal team.
“We have a valid contract with him until 2018,” he said.
Deducted it
In his response, Eymael said he owed City nothing.
“I don’t owe them anything. I have the proof of deposit of my resignation letter. I also have the email that I sent to the club chair [and] the proof of calls I made to him that were never answered,” he said in an SMS.
“What they did not say is that they never paid my winning bonuses as agreed to in the contract. So I deducted it. And I think I worked eight days in March, which I also deducted [and paid myself].”
