APR head coach Ljubomir Petrovic has left the club just days before they play their Orange Caf champions league opener against Mozambique’s Liga Muçulmana de Maputo on Saturday. Petrovic Lujbomir claims he left APR because the club failed to honour their promises. (File) The Serbian, who joined the club in June last year on a one year deal tendered in his resignation letter on Friday afternoon and left the country on the same day. According to sources close to the club, Petrovic said the club did not fulfill promises like playing friendlies with top regional clubs before the start of the Champions league, playing in unplanned tournaments like the Prudence cup and Ombudsman tourney. The 67-year-old also complained of delayed salaries and the club’s failure to clear his electricity bills. He also claimed that his driver had quit because the club was not paying him. However APR Secretary General Adophe Kalisa who Petrovic also accused of interfering in his work rubbished the claims saying that they have bank statements to show that he got his salary on time and that his driver was regularly paid. “There are receipts to show that his electricity bills were paid and I have the bank statements showing that he received his salary on time. It is also a lie that we were not paying his driver because he is the one who sacked him, actually that same driver is the one driving the interim coach,” Kalisa said adding that it is possible that Petrovic got another job offer and wanted to find excuses to go. The APR official also said that there is no way the club could refuse taking part in tournaments like the Prudence and Ombudsman Cup although they had not been planned for at the start of the season. “These tournaments are important not only to the country but to the club as well. The Prudence Cup was meant to educate youth about the dangers of HIV/Aids while the Ombudsman was to highlight the ills of corruption, so such themes are central to the club and that is why we participate in them,” Kalisa added. Petrovic who won the Uefa Champions League with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 guided APR to the final of the 2014 Cecafa club championship and also won the Prudence cup after defeating Police 2-1. APR are top of the national football league table with 35 points, seven ahead of second place AS Kigali.Dusan Duje Suljagic, who was Petrovic’s assistant, is currently the interim coach. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
