Former Free State Stars coach Luc Eymael says that Nikola Kavazovic’s claims he left the club in a mess is simply not a fair reflection of events.
Eymael enjoyed great success as the coach of Stars previously as he won the Nedbank Cup and helped the team qualify for the CAF Confederations Cup for the first time in history.
Ea Lla Koto also finished sixth in the Premiership and qualified for the last eight before the Belgian moved to Egyptian side El Geish in November last year.
As such, it appears Kavazovic’s claims that he quote found a ‘dirty, rubbish side’ could be a little unfounded.
Nonetheless, Eymael responded to the words of the Serbian telling Kickoff: “First of all I want to wish Free State Stars to stay in the PSL, so I want to wish him all the best despite him being very impolite with me.
“Secondly, I want to remind everybody, when I left Free State Stars was number eight.
“Thirdly I think Kavazovic took the team in December, he made transfers. I think the club gave him transfers, they gave him a new assistant or a fitness coach when he asked, and he brought some players that he wanted, and he put in the side players who were there. That’s the choice of the coach I would certainly not comment on.
“But I just want to say it’s not like he didn’t find anybody good in the team, and also the club supported him and gave him the right to transfer some of his players. I don’t want to comment about the tactics he uses and all those things because I’m not there in South Africa.
“Despite that I’m aware about a lot of things by the fact that I’m still following closely the club in the PSL… just what I want to say is that we can only discuss the work that has been done until now.
“You remember when I took over, Free State Stars was at the bottom of the league? I finished number six or number five, I won the Nedbank Cup, and I won the Ke Yona Cup, their two first trophies for the club in 24 years. Nobody can take that away from me.
“Secondly, I won six trophies in eight years in Africa, not one trophy. Six trophies in different countries. So before talking you have to look in your own plate.. .and your mirror you know. If you look for example at some coaches who took their teams in some bad positions, they are trying to do their best to pick results up as they are trying to save the teams without talking about the previous coaches. So don’t search for excuses.
“And lastly huh [laughs], I want to say that at the end of the day it’s only work that is talking for you. For example you see the legacy or the structure that is still in place in Polokwane City, I think when [Bernard] Molekwa took over from me he did well. The coach now of Polokwane City [Jozef Vukusic] is again doing better, but the foundations were there, but they never talk about me.”