2023-12-15 06:50:00
It’s been a little over a year since Jean Kindermans (59) received his C4 in Anderlecht, but despite signing for Antwerp, he is still hanging around at Neerpede. The man who was the director of the Sporting youth school for nineteen years does not yet have a financial agreement with the RSCA. A new attempt to reach a compromise failed this week. An agreement is far from being reached. As things currently stand, Kindermans will serve its notice period until June 2024. Against the wishes of all parties.
”It’s a black page in the history of Anderlecht because this man breathes Anderlecht. The RSCA and the Devils benefit from his work to this day.” On November 10, the day Sporting officially announced the departure of Kindermans in favor of the trio Peter Verbeke (Academy Head of Talent&Innovation), Henk Mariman (Academy Head of Football) and the Dane Mikkel Hemmersam (Academy Director), Romelu Lukaku translates the feeling of all supporters in his message on social networks.
However, current management maintains that it made the right decision. Kindermans’ salary (we are talking about 21,000 euros gross per month and huge bonuses, especially when a young person is included in the A core) weighed too much on the budget and Sporting wanted to modernize its academy. No more question of granting full powers to a single man.
Anderlecht would have offered him a 30% salary cut and another role – in November 2022, the club was thinking of a Verbeke – Kindermans duo -, which the main interested party categorically refused. Antwerp seized the opportunity and the two quickly reached an agreement. Kindermans will be CEO of young people there. He will work closely with the current youth manager, Steven Smet. Kindermans makes no secret of this: this season, he attended Union – Antwerp and Antwerp’s two matches against OHL, in Louvain and Bosuil.
But in the meantime, Kindermans is still serving his eighteen months’ notice in Anderlecht. He still has seven months to serve, until June 30, 2024. For all three parties, it would be desirable if he could leave the ship as quickly as possible. The future ex-trainer Mauve wants to lend a hand to his new employer as soon as possible. President Paul Gheysens is counting on him to discover or break new Arthur Vermeeren.
Kindermans does not want to make concessions. He would lose very lucrative bonuses.
In Anderlecht, the situation is rather unhealthy. The strong man is Mikkel Hemmersam, who is/will be assisted by Verbeke and Mariman. Kindermans is no longer the boss. According to our information, it still does its job correctly. But let’s admit that he discovers a rare gem: wouldn’t it be logical for him to keep it for Antwerp rather than placing it in Neerpede?
At the moment, neither Anderlecht nor Kindermans want to make financial concessions that could unblock the situation. Sporting will not do any favors to its former youth director. And it comes to us that he won’t do it either. He risks losing some very lucrative bonuses if he accepts Sporting’s proposal. Antwerp could provide the solution by paying the difference to Kindermans but Gheysens will not budge either.
Two other elders follow Kindermans towards the exit: especially the departure of Jan Verlinden from the educational unit will hurt.
Two other elders with whom Kindermans worked on a daily basis took the direction of the exit. Last week, Sporting announced the departure of Kevin Vermeulen, Academy Manager at Neerpede. He had worked at Sporting for seventeen seasons. A former youth coach, he had in fact become Kindermans’ right-hand man. After an interview, Anderlecht ended their collaboration.
And then, above all, there is the departure of Jan Verlinden. The former FC Malinois player became the head of the social and educational unit in Anderlecht. He had assisted great talents like Doku, Verschaeren, Saelemaekers, Bornauw and Amuzu in the home stretch of their studies. Sporting offered him the role of Head of Education in the new Neerpede structure, which he refused. Lately, he had helped out the Futures staff in the Challenger Pro League, a role that he also enjoyed. He had been at Anderlecht since 2016 and was very popular. He will leave at the end of the season.
Jan Verlinden. ©vincent duterne [email protected] vincent duterne/photo news
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