Cape Town - Highlands Park interim coach Thierry Mabobo claims the relegated club would have stayed up had they ditched Gordon Igesund earlier.
Allan Freese, who helped the club achieve promotion from the National First Division, was sacked early on in the season after a difficult start to the campaign, and Igesund was installed as the new man in charge.
However, the Lions of the North won just two games in 21 outings under the former Bafana Bafana coach and serial title winner and by the time he was given the boot, relegation was looking like a real possibility for the club.
"I would like to think so," Mabobo was quoted by SowetanLIVE website after being asked if they waited too long to fire Igesund.
"Whether that's true or not, that the change came late or whether if we still had Gordon here we would have won two games, you never know.
"I still believe that we should have made the change early. This is a difficult question to answer because I don't want to knock people."
Highlands Park, one of South Africa's most iconic clubs from yesteryear, were only promoted back to the top flight for the first time in many years last season, and they are now heading back to the National First Division.