The “street cleaner” affair that erupted this week around the moderate team from Jerusalem, Hapoel Jerusalem, has sparked a broader debate about how the club should respond. According to media reports, head coach Ziv Arye allegedly told Ivory Coast midfielder Cedric Don during a team meeting that without him as his coach, Don would be “a street cleaner” – a claim the club has firmly and unequivocally denied.
From this point on, the situation leaves the club, in my view, facing only a limited set of possible responses.
One option, as I see it, would be a decisive legal move: the filing of an immediate and high-profile lawsuit, potentially worth millions, by Hapoel Jerusalem and coach Ziv Arye against the media outlets that published the allegation.
Another possible outcome, at least in theory, would be a dramatic internal reckoning: the resignation of Arye, alongside club CEO Uri Sharetzki, sporting director Shai Aharon, club spokesperson Matan Avraina, and the entire executive committee. This scenario would rest on the assumption that the club’s sweeping denial fails to settle the matter in the public arena.
After the denial, is there any middle ground left?
Following the sweeping denial issued by Hapoel Jerusalem and endorsed by all senior figures at the club, it is difficult to identify a credible middle ground.
For the avoidance of doubt, I place full trust in the club’s statement that the remarks were not said. If that position is accurate, then decisive action is required, in my assessment, to address the severe damage allegedly caused by the publication – including reputational and financial harm – particularly to a supporter-owned club that defines itself through values of tolerance and opposition to racism.
A legal response would allow Hapoel Jerusalem to translate its stated values into concrete action. At the same time, it would be reasonable to expect Cedric Don, Ziv Arye and the club’s highest professional authority, sporting director Shai Aharon, to speak publicly and state that the alleged incident never occurred.
Until such clarity emerges, a heavy cloud will continue to hang over the club, adding pressure to an already fragile league position.
What stands behind the leak of the “street cleaner” affair?
From my perspective, the way the story reached the media points to two possible interests operating behind the scenes. One is financial – an alleged attempt to accelerate a sale during the January transfer window. The other is a deeper internal tension, reportedly between the coach and several senior players brought in as leading figures.
It is notable that players were summoned this week, on Sunday, their scheduled day off, to the meeting in which the remarks were allegedly made. In my reading, the intention may have been to shock the club’s leading players, whose performances since the start of the season have been widely criticized. Arye, according to reports, did not shy away from criticism, particularly amid dissatisfaction voiced by players over their roles and playing time.
Similar meetings in recent years did not result in leaks, making it reasonable to assume that this approach was originally intended to provoke a positive reaction.
What decisions now face Hapoel Jerusalem’s leadership?
The scale and manner of the publication appear to have created a new reality – one that, in my view, exposes a deep fracture in the dressing room between coach and players. As a result, the club may now be forced into difficult and courageous decisions it would have preferred to avoid.
Until recently, the leadership argued that the January transfer window was unsuitable for drastic change, believing improvement could come through the addition of one or two players. That assumption no longer holds, in my opinion.
Two broad paths now seem conceivable. One would be a form of capitulation to senior players through the dismissal of Ziv Arye, in the hope that a new coach might reset the dynamic – an option the club’s leadership has consistently resisted. The other would involve a bold restructuring: the signing of four to five high-quality players, alongside the release of several senior figures in January.
In any scenario, even at significant financial cost, the club must avoid yielding to pressure allegedly applied from within.
Paradoxically, the turmoil surrounding Hapoel Jerusalem may yet offer an opportunity for consolidation – a chance for the club to close ranks and reassert its identity, beginning with a crucial match in Netanya.
