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The weeks leading up to the Hero Super Cup were meant to be quiet for Kerala Blasters FC; an opportunity to catch their breath after a taxing Indian Super League campaign.
It, though, turned out to be anything but, as the club's management and fans anxiously kicked their heels, awaiting the fate of their beloved head coach, Ivan Vukomanovic.
The disciplinary committee of the All India Football Federation took their time to make a decision on the Serb after what transpired in the ISL 2022-23 playoff eliminator. Vukomanovic led his team off the pitch in a walkout, thereby forfeiting the Blasters' must-win clash against Bengaluru FC on March 3.
Exactly four weeks after the incident, a verdict was delivered. The AIFF slapped a 10-match ban on Vukomanovic. The club and the coach were penalized with fines of ₹4 crore and ₹5 lakh, respectively, while also being ordered to issue public apologies.
Kerala Blasters and Vukomanovic duly took to their respective social media handles to express their 'regret' at the incident and hoped to turn the page.
The club quickly turned their attention towards the Super Cup and tasked assistant coach Frank Dauwen with leading the team in the gaffer's absence. They took their first step towards putting the events of March 3 and its aftermath behind them with a 3-1 victory over I-League champions RoundGlass Punjab in their tournament opener in Kozhikode on Saturday, April 8.
However, there still appears to be a sense of unrest at Kerala Blasters.
Many fans believe the club's management turned their backs on them and Vukomanovic by issuing a public apology which they felt was no less than a capitulation. They seemed to believe, meanwhile, that the Serb's subtler statement was courageous.
Talk of the Blasters possibly disbanding their women's team less than a year after its inception has also not gone down well among supporters. Seeing the club sit idle in the transfer market while their rivals plan ahead for next season has been a source of concern for the fans as well.
Most importantly, fans have been irked by the management's constant silence in the face of turmoil.
Among the gush of questions the Kerala Blasters hierarchy are yet to answer is a concern raised by their former assistant coach Stephan van der Heyden.
On April 4, responding to a fan's question about his experience with the ISL outfit on Twitter, Van der Heyden, who served as Vukomanovic's assistant last term, stated that he is yet to be fully paid by the club.
Sportskeeda got in touch with the Belgian to hear the story straight from the horse's mouth. Here is what transpired.
Hiring Van der Heyden was never in Kerala Blasters' plans. When Vukomanovic was announced as the club's new head coach in June 2021, Patrick Van Kets was originally named as his assistant. The pair had known each other from their time at Belgian club Standard Liege.
However, the Blasters found themselves having to find a new assistant coach just a month before the start of the 2021-22 ISL season after Van Kets left the camp due to a personal emergency in October. (Van Kets was suffering from ALS and sadly passed away last September).
With time running out, the club established contact with Van der Heyden through their strength and conditioning coach Werner Martens. A phone call from Vukomanovic followed before sporting director Karolis Skinkys sent him a contract through e-mail and WhatsApp.
The Yellow Army thus roped in Van der Heyden just in time for the start of the ISL campaign. Despite being a last-minute appointment, the coach took no time to settle in at the club, as he formed a good relationship with both the players and the fans.
Van der Heyden would go on to have what he describes as 'an unforgettable experience,' helping the team reach the ISL final for the first time in six years.
However, the Belgian's stint in India was not all smooth sailing.
For starters, Vukomanovic and Co., like all others, were forced to stay in a bio-bubble in a hotel in Goa, secluded from the outside world, for the course of the season due to COVID-19 regulations. Kerala Blasters were atop the ISL table when there was an outbreak in the camp.
"I remember that at one point, 25 out of our group of 50 people were isolated in their rooms because they had COVID," Van der Heyden recalls.
"The coach [Vukomanovic] was in his room for 31 days! We went to training, Werner and I, with only seven players and had to play a game in 10 days."
To add to Van der Heyden's woes, his wife became severely ill shortly after their arrival in India, to the point that she had to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
When she decided to return to Belgium in January, she was held up in Mumbai for two days as Kerala Blasters had failed to register her, as well as the coach's, visa upon their arrival.
"She was offered to leave on the planned flight on the first day if we paid $600 [₹50,000] in cash to some corrupt immigration officer, which, of course, she refused," Van der Heyden reveals.
On top of all that, Van der Heyden was not paid his due wages throughout the league campaign.
"I thought of leaving after two months" - Van der Heyden on experiences with Kerala Blasters
Van der Heyden originally signed a contract with Kerala Blasters until February 28, 2022. This was when the club's league campaign was scheduled to end before they were struck by COVID-19.
An agreement was also in place for the deal to run beyond the said date in the event that the team progressed into the playoffs and then the final - which they did.
A monthly salary was agreed upon when the deal was struck in November. However, Van der Heyden did not receive any of it until - in his own words - two days before the Blasters' final against Hyderabad FC on March 20. Vukomanovic's men came up short in that game, losing on penalties.
Such was his disappointment that he pondered packing his bags and returning to Belgium along with his wife in January itself.
"In that situation, having not been paid, I was thinking of leaving after two months, along with my wife," Van der Heyden explains. "But the players were extremely respectful, eager to learn, and worked very hard every day.
"That's why I felt that we could achieve something special with that group and that I couldn't abandon them at that moment," the Belgian adds.
"We were together 24 hours a day and that creates a special bond. The support of the Yellow Army fanbase was overwhelming as well and helped us - me - through those challenging times."
When an amount was finally credited, he realized that he had only been paid until the month of January, while other staff members were reimbursed until February. He was already back in Belgium when he received the rest of the sum in April.
It was not yet time to close the books on the matter, however. Van der Heyden had still not been paid the bonus he was promised he would receive if Kerala Blasters reached the playoffs and the final.
This issue was complicated by the fact that Skinkys decided against mentioning a particular amount in Van der Heyden's contract against his wishes at the time of his signing.
"No specific [bonus] amount was mentioned in the agreement," Van der Heyden discloses. "I wanted to change that before signing with Kerala Blasters and put a specific amount in, but Karolis [Skinkys, the sporting director] didn’t want to do that. He said I had to trust him on that one."
The coach continued:
"At the beginning of March, the other coaches [Werner Martens, Ishfaq Ahmed, the Indian assistant coach, and Slaven Progovecki, the goalkeeping coach] and I sat down with Karolis and discussed a bonus that we'd receive if we reached the playoffs.
"After reaching the playoffs, we sat down to discuss a bonus that we'd receive if we reached the final."
What perhaps disappointed Van der Heyden the most throughout the whole fiasco was the lack of transparency from the Kerala Blasters higher-ups. All his inquiries seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"I was asking the team manager [Manish Kochar about my salary] first, but he didn’t help," he says. "So, I started asking Karolis. He replied that the money was there, but that there was some paperwork left or bank problems to be sorted.
"Well, if this is true, someone didn’t do his job. But the communication about it was never clear. He always replied that the money was there. It took them four months [to pay my first salary]."
Van der Heyden, meanwhile, hardly had any means of communication with the club's owners. His only encounter with Nikhil Bhardwaj, the director, came at the end of the season.
"I never met the owners," the coach elucidates. "I met Nikhil after the ISL at our hotel in Goa when everyone was already home and Werner and I were waiting for a ticket - because Kerala Blasters said it was too expensive - to go home. We shook hands. That’s all. No conversation."
The Belgian later attempted to reach out to Nikhil to seek a solution regarding his unpaid bonus. E-mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram... He knocked on all the doors there were, but to no avail.
"Not one single answer!" Van der Heyden sighs.
"It's impossible to have a good relationship with a boss that's not paying you" - Van der Heyden on Karolis Skinkys
At that point, Van der Heyden could have turned to the other coaches on the Kerala Blasters team as a last resort. He shared a healthy relationship with all of them, including Vukomanovic, during his time at the club and has stayed in touch with some of them since his departure.
However, he believed the onus was on only one man to ensure that he received the money he was entitled to and that was Karolis Skinkys. Unlike the other people he worked with, Van der Heyden understandably struggled to build a rapport with Kerala Blasters' Lithuanian sporting director.
"It is impossible to have a good relationship with a boss that is not paying you!" Van der Heyden asserts. "Everyone works to get a salary. Otherwise, it's called volunteer work or charity. I have over 35 years [of experience] in professional football and in all these years I never experienced a situation like this."
The former Club Brugge assistant coach further revealed:
"In August last year, he [Skinkys] even sent me a document to sign stating that Kerala Blasters didn’t owe me any money anymore, which of course I refused to sign because I didn't get the bonus yet."
After his efforts to resolve the issue courteously went in vain, Van der Heyden was left with no option but to take drastic measures, taking the matter to FIFA last November. It yielded him an immediate result as he was instantly paid more than half of the bonus amount.
"It's strange," Van der Heyden assesses. "I tried to solve this in a friendly way, asking for my bonus for several months. At the beginning of November, because nothing had happened, I sent an official letter [to Kerala Blasters] asking for my money. I gave them 15 days before going to FIFA.
"At the end of November, I contacted FIFA," he continues. "I officially filed a complaint with them on December 6, 2022. Strangely, exactly on that day, they [the club] paid me 57% of the bonus. Someone must have known or was afraid of a transfer ban by FIFA."
Van der Heyden duly withdrew his complaint but was hung out to dry once again as he is yet to hear from the club about the remaining 43% of the bonus.
"As there was no specific amount mentioned in the contract like I asked, but Karolis didn’t want to do, I withdrew the complaint," he says. "It also shows that this was meant to be. It was a plan not to pay the whole bonus! They must be feeling very proud and clever about saving that money."
This is not the only instance where Van der Heyden believes Kerala Blasters failed to keep their end of the promise.
In January 2022, Vukomanovic informed Van der Heyden, as well as other foreign coaches, that they could sign a three-year contract extension with the club on better terms along with him. When Skinkys then presented the idea to him in March, he told the sporting director that would be happy to put pen to paper on a new deal provided that his due wages were paid.
When the dues were settled and an offer was made, Van der Heyden was surprised to find out that the terms of the deal were the same as his first one. This was contrary to what Vukomanovic had told him.
"Karolis then offered me a new contract, but on the same terms [as the previous deal], not better," he discloses. "So, I said no because that was not what was promised."
Keen to keep his backroom personnel intact, Vukomanovic made another effort in June. However, it appears Skinkys was not on the same page.
"Ivan called me again in June to tell me once more that we had to stay together as staff, that we worked well together, and that Karolis would come back for me. He never did," Van der Heyden explains.
"When I heard that they were talking to other Serbian and Belgian assistants, I decided to definitely say goodbye to Kerala Blasters through an Instagram post [in July]," he continues.
It has now been over a year since Van der Heyden boarded a flight back to Belgium from Goa. While the constant silence from the Kerala Blasters hierarchy has been draining, he remains hopeful that he will be paid the rest of his bonus.
"Simple, [I just wish] that they just pay the bonus to me that I am entitled to," he says when asked how he would like all this to end.
Sportskeeda has reached out to Kerala Blasters for comment.
When asked if is the only one who had similar experiences last season, Van der Heyden, who maintains contact with several people at Kerala Blasters, including the team bus driver, refused to speak on others' behalf. It is up to them to speak up, he says.
"I know the answer, but you should ask them," he alludes. "I can only speak about my situation. Why don’t you ask them one by one, and Karolis too? Please do!"
Van der Heyden signs off with a vote of confidence in the truth, justice, and Karma, and most importantly a gentle reminder to the Kerala Blasters faithful.
"I believe in Karma and I am confident that the truth will prevail," he proclaims. "I want to thank all Kerala Blasters fans once more for their continuous support of the team and wish them all the best for the future.
"They should always keep in mind that they will be with the club a lot longer than any management or coach!" Van der Heyden concludes.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Kerala Blasters have been accused of not duly paying wages under the ownership of Magnum Sports Private Limited.
FIFA briefly imposed a transfer ban on the club in 2021 after receiving complaints from Slovenian striker Matej Poplatnik, who was on their books between 2018 and 2020.
