Ertugral finally breaks his silence

Cape Town - Former Orlando Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral has expressed his sadness at not being able to live up to expectations during his time at the helm.

The Turk stepped down after a 6-1 demolition by SuperSport United, and has since said he regrets not being able to deliver success to millions of Bucs fans across the country.

Prior to the Matsatsantsa humiliation, there were whispers that Ertugral had lost the dressing room with certain key players not impressed with his more aggressive style of man-management.

Notably, the 57-year-old had a high-profile falling-out with defender Edwin Gyimah at Cape Town Airport in September.

Nonetheless, after the Sea Robbers received six of the best against United, Ertugral threw in the towel and has been replaced temporarily by Augusto Palacios.

He told Soccer Laduma: "I feel very sad not to have been able to stay very long at the club, in order to put the philosophy and the type of football I wanted to see in place.

"I'm sad that I was not able to transform the team's style because, last season, the team was not good enough. So I feel sad not to have been able to fulfil the expectations of the millions of Pirates supporters."