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Cape Town - Cape Town City boss John Comitis has opened up about Eric Tinkler's sudden decision to resign from the Premiership club.
The former Orlando Pirates head coach resigned from the Citizens and is expected to be unveiled imminently as the replacement for Stuart Baxter at SuperSport United.
Tinkler was a mere 12 months into a three-year contract with the Cape-based club but exceeded expectations after claiming the Telkom Knockout Cup and guiding them to a third-place finish in the league.
"It was a difficult conversation, I was somewhat blindsided," said Comitis as quoted by the official EWN Sport Twitter account.
"There was a trust that was built and it wasn’t reciprocated."
The former Ajax Cape Town chairperson revealed that Tinkler was offered a new and improved deal but the 46-year-old decided against remaining at the club.
"We weren’t kept in the loop, it wasn’t a number we couldn’t deal with but it seemed to be they had made up their mind," Comitis continued.
"I got a call from SuperSport - to their credit they were upfront and said he was on the shortlist."
Comitis purchased the Mpumalanga Black Aces club, renamed and relocated the club to the Mother City after the 2015/16 season.
Throughout the club's maiden season, Comitis has always remained astute in his approach to running the club - he now believes that Tinkler could have remained five years at City and continue to contribute to their success.
"Tinkler could look back and say look what I built with Cape Town City," said Comitis.
"I don’t know if he is going to be at SuperSport for 5 years."
Matsatsantsa - who have employed three coaches in the last four years - will be a high-pressured post for Tinkler as he will be expected to hit the ground running by delivering trophies.
After the departure of Gavin Hunt in 2013, the club lured Cavin Johnson from Platinum Stars but was soon shown the door after just one full season in charge.
Gordon Igesund was then recruited to the Tshwane club in 2014 but failed to deliver and was sacked in January 2016.
Tinkler will be expected to bring immediate success and to remain competitive in the league - a tough task as he will be up against - Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Wits and Sundowns.
