The KNVB arbitration committee will make a decision in the case between Lars Lambooij and RKC Waalwijk by Friday at the latest. That is the provisional outcome of an emergency hearing in the Zeister woods.
The stakes were crystal clear: Lars Lambooij had filed an emergency arbitration case to have his contract with RKC Waalwijk terminated prematurely. The 35-year-old Tilburger can work as a technical manager at SC Cambuur, where he must follow in the footsteps of Etiënne Reijnen, who left for Feyenoord at the end of last year. According to Lambooij, a significant sporting and financial improvement compared to his current position as head scout. This was also argued by his lawyer.
A view that they refute in Waalwijk. Apart from the fact that both positions are very similar in terms of content, the defense argued that the people from North Brabant have played no less than 27 years in the Premier League in the last 35 years and ‘only’ 8 years in the first division. And while SC Cambuur spent 26 years at the second level and 9 years at the highest level in the same period. Seen in this light, the move to Leeuwarden would not exactly be a sporting improvement for Lambooij.
‘They didn’t even know my contract was up’
In addition, RKC Waalwijk made it known that it simply did not want to lose its current head scout. It is not without reason that the club appointed him chief scout four years ago and that last year, in consultation with Lambooij, it broke the contract and extended it for three years. The young Tilburger would be prepared for the bigger job under the wings of technical director Mo Allach. A process that RKC is only too happy to continue.
That’s all well and good, says Lambooij, but he has not noticed in recent years that there are many career opportunities at RKC. “They didn’t even know at the club last year that my contract was expiring,” he told the committee. “They were even convinced that it was not the case. Partly because of this I got the idea that I am not indispensable to RKC, as the club now claims.” Allach recently told him that he was not yet suitable for the position of technical manager. “That doesn’t inspire confidence.”
250,000 euros in compensation is disproportionate
It has become clear that RKC only wants to let the head scout go for the main prize, namely 250,000 euros. That amount is based on the value of his contract for two more years, or more than 100,000 euros, plus the time and money that has been invested in Lambooij in recent years. They also say at RKC that this amount is more than realistic in their opinion because they want to protect their knowledge and expertise, as they consider Cambuur as a competitor on the transfer market.
In addition, general manager Frank van Mosselveld emphasized that a departure of Lambooij would not be easy to accommodate within a short period of time. RKC Waalwijk would suffer significant damage from this in the upcoming transfer periods. Frans de Weger, Van Mosselveld’s lawyer, explained this with an example. “The fact that Cambuur hangs on the line so easily probably means that they cannot just get someone else,” he said. “The market is small.”
‘Lambooij had confidence in RKC’s reasonableness’
SC Cambuur was prepared to pay 50,000 euros to RKC in return for terminating his contract. An amount that was far removed from the mentioned 250,000 euros. A clear ‘no’ followed. And while the people of Leeuwarden were prepared to negotiate about it. “Given the working methods and attitude of management in other cases, Lars had confidence in the reasonableness of RKC,” said his lawyer. “It is incomprehensible that RKC has not entered into negotiations with Cambuur.”
The KNVB arbitration committee left both parties in uncertainty on Wednesday evening. The decision will be made no later than Friday, according to the provisional outcome of the emergency case. The committee will now first consider whether the circumstances presented by the Lambooij camp are sufficient to allow interim termination of his contract. And if so, it will be determined what reasonable compensation RKC Waalwijk should receive for this. So to be continued.
