Former Brazil and Inter Milan full-back Ze Maria says he had been "taken for a ride" by Romanian club Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt, accusing their president of branding the players "slaves" and threatening not to pay their wages before sacking him, twice, last week.
Ze Maria knew that his second dismissal in a matter of days was definite when the club's Italian president, Angelo Massone, presented him with an airline ticket back to Italy.
"There had been talk of a long-term project and wanting to build something big, but instead I was just taken for a ride by a president who treated his players like they were slaves and demanded that a tough approach be taken with them 'because they are Romanians,'" Ze Maria told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"He made promise after promise without keeping even one of them, and in the end he broke something that everybody spoke highly about purely out of jealousy because he could not cope not seeing his name in the newspapers."
Ze Maria explained how the problems started prior to the away trip at Brasov on April 9.
"Massone came into the dressing room and announced he was going to send the team into a punitive training camp," he added. "In the end, we won but the president still forced us into a training camp before we played Gaz Metan on Monday, April 13, threatening he would pull the team out of the league and not pay any of us if we refused.
"At that point, I went to him and asked him personally to revoke his decision and, instead, I would have resigned the day after the game, on Tuesday, April 14.
"He didn't accept and he sent us into the training camp anyway, infuriating the players. They did not take to the field serenely and we drew, and I was sacked the next day with the president accusing me of scheming against him."
When he told the players that he had been sacked they threatened to go on strike, having also not been paid for two months. President Massone was said to have spoken of a "slaves' revolt" and in the end he changed his mind and reinstated Ze Maria.
"He promised the players that he would pay their wages out of his own pocket by April 16 if he had not reached an agreement with a sponsor by that date, but he was not even due to meet them in Rome until that night so it was obvious he wasn't going to make it," explained Ze Maria.
"So the team didn't train all week and the players took the field demotivated against Botosani, and defeat was inevitable."
So too was Ze Maria's second dismissal, which came as more of a relief than anything to the 41-year-old.
"There was even a time when we didn't even have enough money to buy snacks," he said. "I know that some of the players got their February wages yesterday and the rest are due to be paid in the coming days, but I've not had any money for a month and now Massone's sacked me, threatening me to leave the hotel, leave my car and belongings behind.
"He didn't even want to pay for my flight back home, while he said he would 'wait and see how I behave' before paying my outstanding wages. At least in the end he paid for my flight back on Saturday."