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Cape Town - Maritzburg United chairperson Farouk Kadodia says that the decision to sack coach Mandla Ncikazi following a poor start to the PSL season was “difficult”.
Ncikazi, who replaced Steve Komphela at the start of the season, was in charge of the Team of Choice for just five matches - a 5-3 extra time loss to Kaizer Chiefs in the quarter-finals of the MTN8, one league draw and three league losses.
The string of poor results has left Maritzburg bottom of the PSL log and the decision was taken on Tuesday to part ways with the man who had served as assistant to Komphela during his tenure at the club.
Kadodia drew on the battles of AmaZulu last season - who were relegated after having initially kept faith in coach Craig Rosslee during an equally poor start to the campaign.
“It was difficult, there is no doubt about it. But at the end of the day any football club will defend its franchise and its brand,” Kadodia told Sport24.
“We didn’t want to see a situation where Mandla could not get out of these issues and it would have taken us a long while. AmaZulu is a typical example after they struggled in the first round, and for all of the recoveries they made in the second round it was too late.
“We had to take a decision. We fully supported Mandla and we are sorry that it didn’t work out for him. Football is performance driven and results driven.”
Kadodia could not say when a new coach would be unveiled but he was boosted by the fact that Davids had been working with Ncikazi from the beginning of pre-season.
“We don’t want to sign a coach out of desperation. Obviously we’re looking out in the market... if Fadlu has to be the coach of the side for the next game or two then so be it,” said Kadodia.
“We have to basically make the right decision... I’m not the type who likes to keep changing head coaches so I don’t want to rush into this decision.”
Maritzburg United are next in action when they take on Ernst Middendorp’s Free State Stars at Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday, September 22.
Assistant coach Fadlu Davids will take charge of the club until a new coach is named.
