Nir Klinger Says He Deserved a Chance to Coach Maccabi Haifa

Former Maccabi Haifa star Nir Klinger said in an interview with Omri Assenheim that he believes he should have been given a chance to coach his boyhood club. The full first part of the interview will air at 19:00 on 5SPORT. Klinger discussed his 1990 move from Maccabi Haifa to Maccabi Tel Aviv, a transfer that drew major attention, and said he also spoke about talks with Shlomo Scharf and Yaakov Shahar.

Klinger said the wage gap was decisive. “Maccabi Haifa wanted to give me 10,000 dollars a season. Maccabi Tel Aviv offered 70. What would you do?” he recalled, adding that he told the clubs he would retire rather than play for such sums. When he was not allowed to leave, he went to court and asked to be released. He said the court ruled that “a player is not the property of the club” and ordered compensation of 127,500 dollars, which he called enormous money at the time.

He added that the dispute helped change the system in Israeli football. According to Klinger, the late David Federman wrote a cheque to Maccabi Haifa, which shocked the club, and the fallout led to the creation of the arbitration institution so clubs would not have to go to court. He said his father still keeps a newspaper clipping on the fridge at home, showing his mother Yael Klinger saying she very much wanted him to stay at Maccabi Haifa.

Klinger said Scharf and Shahar came to his home to try to convince him to stay and promised to build the team around him. “I’m really sorry, I shook hands and I will not break that,” he said. “My word is more important than anything else, and I am not staying at Maccabi Haifa.” He said they were very angry, and added that this may be why he never coached the Greens, even though he has coached all of Israel’s major clubs. “Maybe Yankele is still angry with me,” he said, though he noted that they are on good terms now.