FREE STATE Stars are expected to announce Luc Eymael as their new coach this week.
The Belgian is set to replace Sammy Troughton, who was told on Monday that his contract will be terminated before he even got time to properly unpack at Ea Lla Koto.
Stars suffered a 1-0 defeat to rookies AmaZulu in their opening league match at the weekend, the result seemingly costing Troughton his job.
An insider told SunSport that Eymael arrived in the country on Monday and was expected to hit the ground running.
This means Stars’ league match against champions Bidvest Wits at Goble Park yesterday was Troughton’s last in charge.
Said the source: “Stars’ management panicked and decided to bring Eymael on board after the loss to AmaZulu. They felt Stars should have easily won that game as their opponents were down to 10 men early on.”
The insider revealed that the axe also fell on Troughton’s assistant, Sly Mosala.
The duo joined the club in July, replacing Serame Letsoaka and David Vilakazi.
The chopping and changing of coaches is the norm at Stars. Dennis Lavagne was shown the door after three matches in charge at the start of last season. He was replaced by Giovanni Solinas, returning for his second spell with the Bethlehem-based outfit.
SunSport reliably learnt that Stars boss Rantsi Mokoena and Troughton didn’t see eye to eye, disagreeing on who to sign during pre-season.
“Troughton wanted to bring Nathan Paulse (formerly with Ajax Cape Town) and Henrico Botes (Platinum Stars) on board to solve their scoring problems after they lost Moeketsi Sekola to Highlands Park. But Rantsi wouldn’t budge – he wanted to sign his own players,” said the source.
This will be Eymael’s third club in the PSL as he had a controversial stint with Polokwane City, leaving under a cloud to join Bloemfontein Celtic last season, a move that was nullified by the PSL.
