After the placement of his team in the quarterfinals of the Serbian Cup, the Manager of Vojvodina, Nenad Lalatović, stated that the players deserve to be paid their debts from the previous period.
Today, Vojvodina defeated Proleter with the result 0-2 (0-0), in the Round of 16 of the Serbian Cup.
– Congratulations to both teams on the performance shown. Today, it was clear that Proleter is a solid team and that my colleague Žigić works really well with this team. Since his arrival, Proleter has become a stable Super League team and I congratulate him on all the results on this occasion. At the moment, they are a revelation and the biggest surprise for me in the Super League. They play good, quality and hard football. They may not score many goals, but football is played for points and they are right where they should be, in the division of the fourth, fifth and sixth position – says Lalatović.
He is pleased with today’s performance of his team.
– The match was almost equal, and we had chances in the first and second half, which unfortunately we did not use. I mean on Čović, Vukadinović etc. We scored two goals, which rewarded us for our effort, because from the first minute we wanted to enter the quarterfinals, which Vojvodina as a club and my players absolutely deserved. We want to defend the trophy – Lalatović points out.
However, according to him, the players of Vojvodina do not feel like they won after today’s game.
– The players are nervous at every training session and it is really hard for me to motivate them and get the most out of them. They were not rewarded for what they won, and they won the Cup trophy. They are owed bonuses, rates, and now they will be owed the second salary. I know there are problems everywhere, but those problems should not interest anyone. We should look up to Hungary, which went to the European Championship because it is known in their league that there must be regular income in every club – Lalatović notes.
He believes that players and coaches in Serbia must be protected.
– I do not mean only Vojvodina, but all clubs, because some order must be known. Now that our country has stabilized and become powerful, football must be powerful as well. The government must once stand behind all the clubs and tell them that the players must be regularly given salaries, bonuses, rates etc. All praise for my club management, which I have no objections to, but I am with my players every day, and from the beginning of the corona virus we don’t have a sports director and we have an acting President. The players are dissatisfied and I can see on them that everything is more or less equal when they win – says Lalatović.
The Manager of Vojvodina notes that the players were promised that their debts would be settled in July.
– Those guys have to get what they deserve. When they welcomed us here as Cup winners, everyone were happy. The people from the administration, the people who run this city, were all proud then. Everything has been piling up since July, so the players themselves asked me to say this publicly and help them get what belongs to them. If we want to move forward, we must look up to Hungary. Look at their Prime Minister Orban standing behind every club, and the one who doesn’t pay the players, immediately goes to the second or third division. It must be the same in Serbia – Lalatović points out.
He emphasizes that the rates practically represent a part of the salary for the players.
– 30 percent is received through salary, and 70 percent of income is received through rates. In January, they will be owed the second rate, and they have not received the first one yet. I have to praise my club management, because I know that they are working hard and that the situation is difficult because of the corona virus and everything else, but I want to help others with this, because every player and coach in the Super League must be protected and have a regular income. These people have wives, children, families and they live from it – Lalatović notes.
The Manager of Vojvodina believes that Serbia did not even deserve to qualify for the European Championship due to this situation.
– If everything worked properly in our country, maybe we would give Scotland another goal and go to the European Championship. However, the one above didn’t alowe it, when we constantly have to beg for something that is ours. Why should players beg for their income, when they achieve top results? I really feel sorry for my guys, especially when they ask me to ask for them to get what they deserve. Against Standard from Liège, we presented Serbian football well, with players from the Super League – says Lalatović.
He believes that Serbian players must be paid regularly, as is the case with foreigners in Serbia.
– A foreigner can get paid on time, and a Serbian player can’t? I want to publicly show how much I care about my guys, because they do not give 100, but 200 percent of themselves for the coat of arms of Vojvodina, and because of them, every citizen of Novi Sad should be proud of their club, which is the biggest in northern Serbia. As long as I coach them, I will fight for them because I did it for the players at every club I worked for. I don’t need someone to pay me, and not the players, but we all need to be paid together – Lalatović points out.
The Manager of Vojvodina emphasizes that employees must regularly receive their income too.
– People who prepare food for us, maintain the pitches, etc., they also help us make results like these. I ask the management of the club to manage in the next few days and shows respect to this generation, which brought one big trophy to Novi Sad. At that time, everyone was proud of this Vojvodina and its players, and everyone wanted to be photographed behind the trophy. I just want what is normal in every country, and those are regular salaries in football clubs, regardless of whether it is about Javor, Rad, Vojvodina, Red Star, Partizan – Lalatović notes.
Vojvodina will play the next match on Monday, when it will play against Radnički in Niš in the 16th round of the Serbian Super League.
– We will surely have a difficult match. I spent a beautiful year in Niš, during which I suffered only two defeats and finished the season with Radnički as the second. I have very fond memories of that club and the city. They are in a results crisis and have now dropped out of the Cup from IMT as well, which has certainly shaken them. They will want to regain their self-confidence against Vojvodina, which is playing great and which entered the quarterfinals of the Cup, and at the same time is the defender of the trophy and third on the table. They will do their best, but we are going there to stay in our third position and compete with them. It will not be easy at all, because I know how difficult it is to take points there, but we are ready to give our maximum and return to our Novi Sad with three new points – said Lalatović.
The match between Radnički and Vojvodina will be played on Monday at the Čair stadium in Niš, starting at 4 p.m.
