A LEADING Tanzanian club sacked their manager after he compared fans to shouting monkeys and barking dogs.
Belgian Luc Eymael, 60, pleaded with second-placed top-flight side Young Africans FC (Yanga) to release him as he hit out: “I’m not enjoying your country. You are uneducated people.”
Experienced manager Luc Eymael was axed by Yanga after a shocking outburst against fans, officials and living conditions
The ex-keeper and Uefa Pro Licence holder, who has managed in Africa for ten years, later apologised and claimed he was unaware he had been axed.
But in his earlier outburst, widely shared on social media, Eymael blasted shocking refereeing decisions, living standards and “completely stupid” fans who “don’t know anything about soccer”.
He said: “It’s not normal for me – playing on such pitches of a level of a seventh or eighth division in Europe.
“I asked them please to release me. I asked them please to let me do my last game and then go.
“I don’t have a car, I don’t have WiFi. Working in these conditions is not for me. My wife is absolutely not enjoying here… I’m disgusted.”
Eymael later claimed he was not talking about his own team’s fans.
And indeed in his rant he said: “The only pleasure that I have is ..when we are playing.. full of our fans.”
You will never be able to win the league because you are not an organised team. You are an unorganised club.
Luc Eymael
But he criticised supporters for not understanding his tactical changes and substitutions during last Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Mtibwa Sugar.
He said: “The fans didn’t understand. They are completely stupid in this country.
“They can only shout, like monkeys, or dogs who are barking, They only can do that. They don’t know anything in soccer.”
“The soccer is very poor when playing away games like that.
“It’s better to stay with your own people, do your own things.”
And on top of such slurs, Eymael told his own club: “You will never be able to win the league because you are not an organised team. You are an unorganised club.
“Officials are against you because you don’t have any weight in the federation, and the federation is only for Simba (runaway league leaders) and other clubs, not for us, so you have to release me. I don’t want to stay here.”
His club responded in a statement: “Because of such derogatory and unsporting comments, the management of Yanga has decided to sack coach Luc Eymael.”
He later told BBC Sport Africa: “I was provoked by a fan from our rivals Simba and I apologised on Friday for my comments.”
And he also claimed he had not been told of his dismissal.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
