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Fired Yanga coach Eymael now claims he was provoked by a Simba fan


Belgian coach Luc Eymael has stopped short of apologising for the apparent racist remarks he made against Tanzanian football fans that cost him his job.

The former AFC Leopards coach was fired by Tanzania’s Young Africans on Monday after referring to the supporters as ‘monkeys and illiterate’ in a heated post-match interview at the weekend.

FRUSTRATED

And in an interview with Goal.com, Eymael said he was provoked by a Simba fan into making those remarks.

Simba are Yanga’s cross-town rivals, and the two teams have dominated the Tanzanian football scene for decades.

“On Wednesday I was very frustrated after the game… I was disappointed with the direction of the fans,” Eymael explained.

“I didn’t go for the interview, just went straight to my hotel. All people were calling me (names) but I did not want to respond. Then there is this one guy from Simba who kept harassing me, and I reacted,” he said.

LOVES MONEY

Meanwhile, Eymael’s South Africa agent Rathshibvumo Muluvhedzi has described the coach as a ‘friendly guy who loves money’.

The Belgian has enjoyed stints at Free State Stars, Polokwane City and Black Leopards in the Premier Soccer League.

“He (Eymael) in person is a very friendly guy. But his problem is he wants to be both coach and agent at the same time, he loves money. He wants to control the whole team, he doesn’t want anyone to tell him everything,” Muluvhedzi told Kick Off.

“He can unsettle any team because he loves money. Me and him we had issues (sic) when he took some of my players to another agent and sometimes he wouldn’t play them.”

The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has announced that it will petition Fifa to reprimand Eymael.