Herve Renard Resigns

October 12th, 2010 | by: kiko | Comments Off

The surprising news of Renard’s departure was a bigger shock to the local media than the 3-0 loss to Uganda.

Rather than focusing on the reasons for the resignation, the local media focused on the timing of Renard’s announcement. His departure was heavily criticised due to the fact that it was on the verge of Angola’s second qualifying match against Guinea-Bissau. A couple of journalists went as far as vent their frustrations in their articles, implying that Renard was more interested in his salary than his project with the national team.

But, what really caught the attention of the fans, however, was the bizarre press conference by the Angolan FA (FAF). The president of the FA Justino Fernandes stated in the press conference that he was surprised by Renard’s resignation, because Renard “assured everyone that he was happy with his working conditions”. He then proceeded by stating that Renard’s salary was almost 3 months late, but that was not a good enough reason to resign.

By the time the press conference was finished, the only people still shocked or surprised by Renard’s resignation were the FAF personnel.

Most national team supporters immediately understood the reasons behind Renard’s resignation and have promptly directed their anger towards FAF.

Attempting to hire top level coaches while not keeping up with the basic contractual obligations, is nothing short of embarrassing. It would be easier to have some sort of asterisk(*) in the contract, denoting that the salary might be a couple of months late, due to the FA’s incompetence.

If FAF are serious about hiring a good coach, they need to sort out their internal problems. Until then, the best action is to hang on to interim coach Zeca Amaral.