#Rik #Verheye #Sam #Kerkhofs #dismiss #coach #Sporting #Hasselt #support #choice #commotion
BVA actor Rik Verheye (37) and entrepreneur Sam Kerkhofs (36), known for the successful Play4 documentary series ‘De Spor’ in which they take over football club Sporting Hasselt, have dismissed their trainer. And this despite the fact that their team is in the lead in the Second Amateur.
LOOK. Rik about dismissal of Spor trainer: “I found it really difficult, I like that person.”
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In the charming documentary series ‘De Spor’, Rik Verheye and Sam Kerkhofs buy their own football club – Sporting Hasselt – and want to turn it into a top team. The fact that something like this comes with many ups and downs has already been discussed in sixteen episodes and now attracts almost a million viewers. Now we are at a considerable ‘down’: trainer Benny Lunenburg was thanked by Rik and Sam for services rendered.
Rik is deeply concerned about it, as he said last night in ‘Gert’s table’ on Play4. “I like people, I underestimated their emotional impact,” Verheye admits. “The last straw was the 0-3 defeat against Londerzeel. That was painful. We have been playing very poorly since the winter break and something had to be done. Gentle healers make stinking wounds.”
Not overnight
“We didn’t make the decision overnight,” emphasizes Sam Kerkhofs. “It may not seem logical to fire the trainer as a leader, especially for people who do not watch all the matches but mainly follow us via ‘De Spor’. But our level of play deteriorated. We still stand behind our choice, even after all the commotion.”
Ex-coach Benny Lunenburg is sharp: “The people who made this decision have not been in football long enough to know how it works. There is a lot of pressure involved, also because of the documentary… We were on our way to a possible title, right? I maintain that we had a serious chance. That opportunity is now being taken away from me, and that hurts a lot.”
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WATCH ALSO. Rik Verheye and Sam Kerkhofs take over Sporting Hasselt
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