Images via Tomasz Kudala/Shutterstock and Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
In the past two days since I wrote an article trying to explain where we were up to in the bonus scandal up to that point on Tuesday afternoon, various people involved as well as journalists have come forward to present their version of events and stories based on information from sources.
Some of these stories sound very plausible, others sound like scurrilous rumours and mud-flinging, therefore in this article I’ll try and delve into these various tales and explain it as I see it.
The first rumour which particularly engaged my focus came out just as I was publishing my original article on Tuesday. A story originated in Przegląd Sportowy that Lewandowski had taken charge of Poland’s attacking tactics for the match against France, which was met which some skepticism by the Polish public. I have to say I agree with a level of this cynicism, as Michniewicz himself said the style of play would be very different than it was in the game prior against Argentina. Despite this, the level of attacking play was so much better than in all of Poland’s other World Cup games that you can see it’s quite plausible that either Lewandowski or the other attacking players took it upon themselves to play differently to how the coach was asking them to.
Next we had 24 hours of supreme contradiction from the Polish government and Morawiecki himself over what exactly had been promised. On Monday when the scandal broke, the government announced that the money was supposed to be put into a special PZPN fund to help with Poland’s football development. At noon on Tuesday, Morawiecki himself said “I think that our players deserve some kind of bonus” before stating about five hours later that “there will be no government funds provided as bonuses for football players”. Reports further emerged this evening that members of the government party are furious with Morawiecki over this matter, with Morawiecki now looking to shift the blame to one of his advisors, who alleged came up with the bonus idea originally.
Tomasz Włodarczyk then revealed further details about the scandal last night. It is alleged that Kamil Potrykus, Michniewicz’s assistant, was asking for the bank account information of the players to transfer the bonus money following the Argentina match. Again, it’s difficult to know where this information is coming from but Włodarczyk is Poland’s most reputable football journalist so his information will be verified.
Another story that has emerged is that Łukasz Skorupski and Artur Jędrejczyk were joking with Morawiecki when raising the stakes of the bonus, without the Prime Minister realising they were pulling his leg.
Michniewicz himself was interviewed on Radio ZET and defended himself admirably, suggesting that there was lots of joking at the dinner when this bonus was promised, and that it was a “casual conversation”. Michniewicz took part in an interview with TVP Sport this evening to further defend himself and dismiss many of the stories written about himself, the players and the scandal. Despite conducting himself stoically this evening, Michniewicz looked and spoke like a man who doesn’t expect to be in his job next week.
Stories in Meczyki claim that the players sorted the bonus issue out the day after the Argentina game, agreeing that 2 million PLN should go to charity and the coaching staff would receive 10%, before Michniewicz raised the issue with Lewandowski the day before the France match to request the staff receive 20%.
In my opinion, this situation is mostly the fault of Morawiecki, but it would be extremely difficult for Kulesza, Michniewicz and the players to come out and say that. Instead, we will probably see Michniewicz lose his position as Selekcjoner, Kulesza’s public image decline further and the players not forgiven for some time yet I imagine.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Comentarios