Luc Eymael's mouth writes cheques that even his teams' results struggle to cash.
The Free State Stars coach is an enigma. His teams win. But controversy sticks to him, such as when he left Polokwane City in 2017, joined Bloemfontein Celtic a day later, and was forced back to Limpopo by a disciplinary committee.
Eymael has little filter. It's refreshing, and at times infuriating. Even Stars' GM, Rantsi Mokoena, seems to cringe. But the coach has brought Ea Lla Koto their first trophy since 1994 with last season's Nedbank Cup, and turned relegation battlers into sixth-placed PSL finishers.
Eymael was reportedly on the radar of Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United.
He appeared to talk himself out of any interest after the Nedbank Cup final with, among other things, an apparent barb at Chiefs' coach Steve Komphela that it had taken him two years for a trophy in SA, and some coaches still had zip after 13 years.Even in this interview, pitched a soft question - about the resultant press furore, which appeared to take the gloss off the Nedbank triumph - he goes for the big swing.
"First of all, I never pronounced the name of Steve Komphela. It's them [the media] who linked Komphela to the words that I said," he growls, warming up for a tangent.
"I said that it's not easy to win a trophy, especially in SA with a team like Stars. And I was here for two years, and I won a trophy. And I knew that some people wait a long time - some 13 years. It's not only Steve Komphela who didn't win a trophy.
"But because you people [the press] didn't know what he said to me after Chiefs won 1-0 in the last minute [at Goble Park on April 4], which I kept to myself - that could have changed the way people viewed it."
Referring to earlier harsh words allegedly spoken by Komphela seems an unconvincing defence. Nonetheless. It seems to be Eymael's modus operandi. He talks himself into trouble but his teams' results get him out again - or vice versa.
How sustainable it is as a success model is open to question. Would he consider being just a little more careful?
"Careful in what I'm saying?" The grunt in the speaker sounds like he's swallowed his cellphone. "You know, most of the time I say the truth. I'm not a double-faced man. Like last season Mr Komphela was saying I was giving an ultimatum to Chiefs. I was not.
"It was not arrogant. It was a matter of respecting my words to Rantsi and the chairman [Mike Mokoena]. I know I have a buyout clause. I know I can leave whenever I want to if someone puts the money on the table. But I'm not this kind of person. Rantsi came to me and said, 'I know there is a clause, but so I am not left stranded for a coach, can we agree that if nothing happens before a certain date you will come back'. I said 'yes'.
"I promised to come back if nothing was concrete by June 12. After June 12, Club Africain from Tunisia and Al-Ittihad Libya contacted me. I said: 'Sorry, no'. They said: 'Coach, are you crazy? Do you see the contract we are offering you?' I said: 'It's OK, I have to respect my employers'.
"When people say something about me, they don't know me. But I have proved them wrong by coming back."Related: Wits start singing their redemption song with win over Free State StarsFor someone so apparently intent on proving his detractors wrong, Eymael has that chance against Chiefs in Saturday's MTN8 quarterfinal at FNB Stadium.
Clean-imaged Amakhosi have hired another coach who was at Stars, the mild-mannered Italian Giovanni Solinas, who has nowhere near Eymael's track record, having won one notable trophy.
Eymael points out he knows Solinas, whose career dovetailed with his in Algeria. And finally the coach relents on the bluster.
"I have nothing to prove. And it's not to take a revenge or try to prove something. No, when I enter the pitch I'm a competitor."..