French coach Bertrand Marchand’s love affair with former Caf Champions League winners Club Africain has come to an end.
Marchand’s deal with the El Menzah outfit was due to elapse this June. Negotiations over a contract renewal didn’t end well after both parties failed to reach a consensus.
Africain merely pieced a two-sentence communiqué on Tuesday, announcing they’ve gone their separate ways with the former Raja Casablanca coach.
The dispatch did not offer to explain reason for the break in bond but the fall is strongly linked to disagreement over a contract extension on the negotiation table.
December last year, Chairman Marouwen Hamoudia had injected in a lot of cash in the hope to end Esperance Sportive du Tunis’ dominance in the domestic league.
Third place finish, the previous term, was considered simply not good enough for a highly ambitious club board.
Bertrand was appointed to the coaching job in what was his second coming after his first two-year stint between 2005-7.
Players were signed to help push the revamping drive. And having forked out astronomical sums in this audacious bid, anything less than the league title is considered an underperformance for Hamoudia.
Consequently, Club Africain’s current run doesn’t appeal to the top dogs who opted against handing the French coach a renewal after seeing their attempt for the 64-year-old gaffer to lower his wages fail.
The Tunisian side haven’t fully recovered since the indictment of their former chairman who’d fully bankrolled the club over the past periods.
And with a not-too-wide budget and seeing their revival plans almost hit the brick walls, club Africain thought it best to free the Frenchman of his contract who’s also in-demand in the transfer market.
The club is rooted at third-place with ten points between them and already confirmed champions Esperance of Tunis.
Marchand is the 29th coach released by the capital in their 97 years of existence.
