Meeting with the new ex: Einbinder returns to Jerusalem, in red

Dan Einbinder grew up in Beit Vagan on the ideology of sports hatred towards Hapoel Tel Aviv. In two different terms he served as captain of Betar Jerusalem and was intimately acquainted with the bitter rivalry between the two fan camps and experienced charged and tumultuous encounters. But football has winding roads and tonight (Tuesday, 20:00) he will enter Teddy Stadium in the red uniform of Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Last November, Einbinder was cut from Betar Jerusalem in a unilateral proceeding by the club, which still pays most of his salary. The midfielder, who intends to file a lawsuit against Betar, will go up tonight with a lot of emotion and passion to prove to the yellow club that he made a mistake.

Einbinder (31), who grew up in Mevaseret Zion and grew up in the youth department with the Menorah emblem, is identified with Betar Jerusalem despite the moves he made during his career to Kiryat Shmona, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer-Sheva. He has already won to play against his youth club in the uniform of three different teams, but tonight it seems to be different and much more charged.

To understand the precipitation between the parties it is worth going back two weeks, so there was a secret meeting between Eli Ohana and the club’s legal counsel, Adv. Roni Mozson, to Einbinder’s agent and his lawyer Adv. Roi Rosen. Purpose of the meeting: An attempt to reach a formula that will prevent a lawsuit from being filed. Einbinder’s demands were to receive the amount of the cut he agreed to before he knew he would be released, about NIS 360,000 (employer cost: NIS 700,000), the premiums that Betar would receive from the moment he left and other elements of non-pecuniary damages. “It will be easier for us to pay the differences, otherwise it will not happen,” Betar representatives clarified.

Since it seemed that the Ben Khalifa deal would not materialize, the player’s representatives decided to file a lawsuit. Among other things, they intend to claim that he was fired without a hearing, without a regulated procedure, and that he sat at home for two months because he was unable to make a move because the notice was received on the last day of the transfer window. Betar claims that in July, Einbinder received a message that he was not in the professional programs and was offered to find a group that would absorb him, while promising Moshe Hogg that his salary would not be harmed.

“The club’s decision is made due to professional considerations and a desire to promote other players in the position,” read a response from Betar, which claimed that there was interest from several teams in the player, including Kiryat Shmona, MS Ashdod and Hapoel Tel Aviv. Decided at the end of a legal consultation to inform him in a phone call made by Ohana about the termination of his employment at the club.

“Personally, no offer has been made that could have been implemented,” Einbinder testified about a month ago. “On the last day of the transfers I told the celebrant: ‘I don’t want to play here if the coaches don’t want me. But I want to stay until January and then I will move to a place that wants me.'” According to him, he did not get what he wanted.

The signs of the shaky status of the connection in Betar were already visible in the summer. Ahead of the Toto Cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, when the connection in the team was still being practiced the night before, Einbinder’s cell phone vibrated. On the line was the professional manager Yossi Benyon, who according to Einbinder told him: “I know that Roni Levy trained you in the lineup, but we received a discount from above. You will not be on the roster today.”

Still, in Betar Jerusalem, opinions are divided about the reasons for the breakup. When Ohana spoke with the player and his father, he clarified to him: “Yossi Benyon, who was the club’s professional manager, also held the professional decision not to continue.” Einbinder talked to Benyon, who claimed that He and Roni Levy actually sided with leaving him.

“Betar said the decisions were professional, but also Roni Levy and Yossi Benyon, followed by Slobodan Drapic and Shai Barda wanted me and told me how important I was,” Einbinder said. “The decision to release me was financial, and after I agreed to cut my salary by 30 percent, they said no. They want me for professional reasons. “

Einbinder was one of the leaders in the home and garden locker room who led the agreement to the cuts, but also had the highest salary at the club with a contract of 300,000 euros per season, which dropped to 210,000 euros. By the time an audience for Teddy arrived, his status had deteriorated: he began to absorb contempt whistles from the stands and failed to become a significant and leading player at the professional level. “He mainly distributed balls laterally, made glitches of pose and did not really contribute,” Betar tried to explain the decision not to continue. “We preferred to give young people like Aviel Zargari, Tamir Adi and others the opportunity to move forward. Einbinder is Betar’s past.

He himself said angrily on the day of interviews he initiated several weeks ago: “It was an illegal move by Betar, neither moral nor ethical. I played for Betar for 18 years, I put my body in for the club, I gave up 700,000 shekels from my salary. After I was one of the leaders of the cuts, in the end I go ?! “

And now, the one who decided to give him the keys is Nir Klinger, who managed to coach him during his unsuccessful tenure at Betar Jerusalem. Hapoel Tel Aviv were not happy to add a 31-year-old midfielder, probably in light of player inflation in his position, but Klinger sought a leader and insisted On the signing of Einbinder.

Already in Saturday’s game against Hapoel Haifa (2: 2) he demonstrated leadership, gathered the players before the opening whistle and pushed them, but at the football level did not present a great game. Perhaps tonight, with the extra-motivation in front of the club where he grew up and threw it away, and just before the parties meet for a battle in court, Einbinder will provide a winning argument in the battle on the grass.