Chippa United chief operations officer Lukhanyo Mzinzi is confident new coach Eric Tinkler can take the Chilli Boys to the next level.
Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Tinkler, who will arrive in Port Elizabeth to take charge of the side on Thursday evening, was dramatically announced as a replacement for Dan “Dance” Malesela, who was shown the door by the club this week.
“We as Chippa United can confirm that we have parted ways with Dan Malesela after a very lengthy meeting that we had as the management on Tuesday,” said Mzinzi.
“We have immediately found a replacement in Eric Tinkler who has worked with various clubs in the league. He had a very impressive spell at Cape Town City before joining SuperSport United.
“He was also with Orlando Pirates in their Caf final.“We are looking forward to our first win of the new season under Tinkler against SuperSport United [next Wednesday].”
Numerous attempts to reach Tinkler proved unsuccessful on Wednesday.
Mzinzi said the decision to fire Malesela – after only three matches this season – was a painful one.
According Mzinzi, Malesela’s axing was based not only on results but was a combination of “other soccer-related matters”.
Chippa have recorded two losses and a draw in their opening three matches and as a result the team is placed second-last on the log with only one point.
They were beaten 2-0 by Bloemfontein Celtic in their league opener which was followed by a 1-0 loss to Orlando Pirates. Their most recent result was a 2-2 draw against Black Leopards in East London at the weekend.
“The way we started this season and how we played against Bloemfontein Celtic, Orlando Pirates and Black Leopards with two of those games being home fixtures was not impressive,” said Mzinzi.
“In our meeting, we analysed the players who we have and the players that we lost and the players that we bought this season, experienced and younger. It was a very robust meeting which saw everybody raising their opinions but it was felt that we should take a new direction.
“It was a very painful decision to release coach Dan Malesela, because those who are close to the club know how close the chairman is with coach Dan.
“But after the meeting we decided to let him go and hire Tinkler because of his experience and his availability.”Malesela said on Wednesday he received his letter of termination late on Tuesday night.
He declined to elaborate what was stated in the letter saying it was a personal contractual matter.
“My contract has been terminated. I got the letter last night. It's embarrassing for me. I can't suffer this humiliation,” the coach said. “They will buy me out of my contract.”
The former Orlando Pirates skipper said he had nothing immediate planned saying he would discuss his future with his agent.
“I’ll be leaving PE tomorrow. I have already spoken to the players. It’s just unfortunate that I was never afforded a chance to do things at Chippa United. Seemingly I would never be afforded a chance to do that.
“I am hoping that the next person who comes in will get a chance because there is potential here.”Asked if he will take legal action, Malesela said: “No. I am far from those things. We have an agreement in terms of what will happen when terminating the contract.”
During the 2016-17 season, Malesela was placed on “special leave” due to poor results but was later brought back as results went downhill. He helped save the club from being relegated.
Last season he was fired in September having also only played three matches‚ all of them defeats and vowed to never come back at Chippa.
Eight months later, he made a surprise return to the team in May, replacing Serbian coach Vladislav Heric...