WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-20 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Jonty Mark and Karyn Maughan
Carlos Parreira’s decision to quit as Bafana Bafana coach might cost him dearly.
Football attorney Michael Murphy on Saturday told the Sunday Independent that, “at best”, the Brazilian will have to pay the South African Football Association (Safa) damages “for the cost of finding a replacement for him at short notice.
“At worst … Safa might choose not to accept his resignation,” Murphy said, adding that South African courts and international football tribunals “did not accept” coaches breaking their contracts.
| ‘He always struck me as very much a family man’ |
Safa has yet to publicly confirm reports that 65-year-old Parreira – who signed a four-year contract with the local football association in late 2006 estimated to be worth R100-million – wants to leave South Africa as soon as possible so that he can be with his ailing wife, Leila, and his young grandchildren.
But the association on Saturday announced that it would brief the media on Monday, after an “extraordinary general meeting of its national executive committee” at which Parreira is widely expected to tender his resignation.
Parreira said he could not comment “until further notice”.
Reports are already rife that the Brazilian is trying to soften the blow of his imminent departure – barely a month before Bafana are scheduled to play four crucial 2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers – by suggesting several Brazilian coaches as replacements.
A baptism of fire awaits any new coach, with Bafana playing Nigeria in Abuja on May 31, followed by Sierra Leone (home and away) and Equatorial Guinea (home).
Candidates for the job mooted in the Brazilian press include Abel Braga, Internacional’s coach, and Joel Santana, Flamengo’s coach. Both men have denied being formally approached by Safa.
Braga, however, told one Brazilian newspaper that he was aware that Parreira wanted to leave South Africa and had “indicated” a list of Brazilian coaches who could take over from him.
Sven Goran Eriksson, the former England and current Manchester City coach, meanwhile, has again been linked with the Bafana job. Eriksson is known to be a favourite of Danny Jordaan, head of the South African organising committee for the 2010 World Cup. He was a leading candidate for the job before Parreria was signed.
The Swede has links in South Africa. His son, Johan, is an assistant coach at Thanda Royal Zulu. Eriksson visited the club in Durban earlier this year and was met by, among others, Trevor Phillips, the former Premier Soccer League CEO.
“I know that [Eriksson] loves South Africa,” said Phillips on Saturday. “But I think it is more as a tourist on the game farms than for the football.”
For any coach, having just over two years in which to build a side for World Cup 2010 will be a nigh-on impossible task. Indeed, Safa might decide that it is better off sticking with the current assistant coaches, Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane, and getting them to continue the process Parreira started.
Neither Mosimane nor Leal could be reached for comment on Saturday, but the indications are that Leal will not be following Parreira back to Brazil.
Phillips, meanwhile, himself an Englishman abroad, says he understands Parreira’s plight.
“He always struck me as very much a family man,” said Phillips. “Having been through the same thing myself, I know how it feels to be away from your family.”