Cape Town - Former Free State Stars coach Kinnah Phiri believes the decision to remove him from the club after just three matches of the new season was harsh.
Stars are bottom of the Premiership after three straight defeats to begin the new campaign and the club reacted to the abysmal start by sacking Phiri.
The Malawian manager was at the club for less than a year after taking over from Belgian Tom Saintfiet and saving them from relegation last season.
"It was a harsh decision by the club to sack me but then as an employee I had no choice," Phiri told KickOff.
"I say it was a harsh decision because after losing Camaldine Abraw and Daniel Cardoso I then submitted a proposal for players that we needed to replace those players that had left with.
"Unfortunately there was no support from the club with regards to finding those replacements which meant I had to work with what was there.
"When you haven't brought in the right kind of replacements for your best players it becomes premature to then fire the coach after just three games.
"We then had our top striker Moeketsi Sekola getting injured just before the start of this season which meant we became even weaker in that department. Sekola didn't play in all those three games that we lost due to that injury."