Image: Keystone
Sion boss Christian Constantin responds in his own way to the corona crisis and quits several players without notice. After the fired stars showed their lack of understanding, Constantin spoke up again – and did not save on criticism.
Johan Djourou, Pajtim Kasami, Seydou Doumbia and Co. were amazed when they opened a letter from their club on Wednesday and heard that they had been fired without notice. Why? Because they did not want to – or at least not immediately – respond to FC Sion’s request: because of the corona crisis, the players should be able to get by with the maximum wage of 12,350 francs provided by the unemployment insurance for short-time work.
After the player union SAFP rejected all nine layoffs as unfair, several players also spoke up. Ex-Nati player Djourou tells “Blick” that he “did not want to make a legal mistake” because short-time work on temporary contracts was not yet possible at this time – but it is now. Djourou even publishes his contract to show that his monthly wages of CHF 7,500 a month are well below the upper limit for short-time work. «I hardly lose any money with short-time work. It’s really all about the matter, »he says.
While Djourou Constantins can understand some of the action (“He wants to protect himself because he is afraid for his club”), other players show less understanding. Seydou Doumbia, for example, says: “You can’t send us a WhatsApp at 4 p.m. asking us to sign the next day by 12 noon. Without explanation. » The fact that the report came not from the president personally, but from the accountant does not make things easier. “That was blackmail,” says Sion captain Xavier Kouassi.
«The salary of two nurses – without doing anything»
After Constantin explained his approach in a letter to the SAFP, he spoke again in more detail on television in French-speaking Switzerland. “I already knew when I made the offer to the players that the short-time arrangement would come,” says Constnatin to “RTS”. Some stars would then have rehearsed the uprising under the leadership of more experienced teammates.
“Since not all of my players are fools, some did not go with the older ones,” said Contantin, who cannot understand that the top earners at FC Sion did not accept his offer: “If I tell them that their minimum wage Without doing anything, practically the salary of two nurses who work hard to save lives today, maybe a little common sense is required. »
And what happens now? The released players believe in reconciliation. “We are still ready to talk,” says Djourou. Doumbia says: “We are open to everything.” And Constantin? For him there seems to be no turning back: «It makes no sense to keep players who don’t want to make an effort. Especially at this point when all other people have to make an effort. »
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