Tinkler living on borrowed time
Coach plays down fallout with captain
Chippa United coach Eric Tinkler has made a U-turn on his altercation with Mark Mayambela, with the tactician saying he did not publicly rebuke the player.
Last week Mayambela had a bust-up with Tinkler on live TV during their match with Orlando Pirates.
The club captain was substituted and after the game Tinkler said disciplinary action would be taken against him. At the time Tinkler said: “Everybody saw what happened but it’s a discipline matter and we will deal with it internally.” Following their 1-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns at
Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Saturday, Tinkler changed his tune. “Mark was not selected for this game. It’s an internal matter and will be dealt with. I never slate a player through the media, so we will deal with it,” he said. “Mark is still our captain and will play again, there is no issue.” The former SuperSport United coach is living on borrowed time at Chippa due to the Mayambela incident and a string of negative results. The Chilli boys have lost all their last three games in all competitions. Since taking over, he has a record of four losses, two wins and one draw. The club’s trigger-happy owner Chippa Mpengesi could be preparing to drop off the axe on Tinkler. Tinkler may get axed this week if they don’t get a good result in their next game. Although he sounded hopeful that he would be in charge of their next match against Kaizer Chiefs on November 10, Tinkler sounded oblivious to what could be coming. “I don’t think the break will do us any good. What we need is consistency and this break kind of sets us back.
“It would be different if we could play a competitive friendly match but we can’t because there are no PSL teams where we live,” he said. “I would actually prefer to be playing in three days’ time to keep the momentum going because in 10 days you don’t know what else we are going to get.”