Chippa United appoint Luc Eymael as head coach after parting ways with Lehlohonolo Seema

Luc Eymael had the poison chalice shoved into his hands on Wednesday when Chippa United named the Belgian as their new coach "until the end of the season".

Eymael replaces Lehlohonolo Seema who was suspended by the club on Tuesday night pending a board meeting and then fired less than 24 hours later.

Seema's dismissal is the latest episode in the unending saga of hiring and firing of coaches at the Port Elizabeth club.

Chippa released a statement late on Wednesday afternoon saying Eymael's first match in charge will be the DStv Premiership fixture against SuperSport United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on January 6.

"The club confirms that it met with former coach Lehlohonolo Seema on Wednesday where the consensus from both parties was to part ways with immediate effect‚" the statement read.

Eymael has coached in Belgium and in Africa and was also in charge when Free State Stars won the Nedbank Cup in 2018.

Triggerman and club boss Siviwe Mpengesi was quoted in the statement as saying: “Our ambition was to have an improved season in comparison to how the team has been fighting relegation in the past few campaigns.

"One of Eymael's responsibilities is a top eight finish for this season.

“We would like to wish Seema well with his future endeavours and thank him for his contribution."

Only two months ago‚ Mpengesi pledged to be more patient with coach Seema.

On Wednesday‚ he suspended Seema only eight matches into the season.

When Seema left his job at Bloemfontein Celtic to join the Bay team‚ Mpengesi said he saw something special in his new coach.

“Seema reminds me of Roger Sikhakhane.

“He is my child. We click‚ we bond and we are going to be patient with him‚” he said on October 19.

“With this one we can see that he is a coach with vision.

“We believe that with him we are going to achieve great things.”

Almost as if to throw a stumbling block in Seema’s way from the get-go‚ the club cleared out 15 senior players before the new season.

Seema was left with a whole heap of new youngsters.

Then Mpengesi shockingly sold their captain and goalkeeper Veli Mothwa to AmaZulu soon after the start of the new season.

With that lack of stability around‚ it’s not surprising the Port Elizabeth side suffered their fifth defeat in eight games‚ losing 3-1 to AmaZulu at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Sunday.

The team are on a five-match winless streak‚ with their only success being a 3-1 victory against struggling‚ bottom-of-the-log Maritzburg United.

The poor start to the league is the motivation behind the club’s decision to part ways with Seema.

Mpengesi told Seema in an e-mail sent on Tuesday night his fate would be decided by a board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The news of Seema’s suspension came as a shock to many because on Tuesday the club’s chief operations officer‚ Lukhanyo Mzinzi‚ said the coach’s job was safe.