Stars look to bring coach familiar with the club, recall Solinas

GIOVANNI Solinas is set to return to Free State Stars four months after the Italian quit as coach of the Bethlehembased team, citing personal reasons. The Star understands that an announcement to confirm Solinas as a replacement for Denis Lavagne, who was sacked last week because of his poor relationship with his bosses, as well as the players, will be made some time this week.

Solinas was appointed on New Year’s Eve and impressed in his short stint, famously beating Orlando Pirates 1-0 in an Absa Premiership clash in February and guiding Stars to the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup, where they also faced the Buccaneers but were hammered 4-2 in their own backyard.

A 12th place finish at the end of the season was seen as a credible position on the Absa Premiership table for a man who knew very little about South African football coming in and was seen as a gamble by the club when he was appointed.

“We have appointed Themba Sithole as interim coach for now and we are looking to bring in a coach who is familiar with the club and can get (positive) results,” said Stars boss Rantsi Mokoena, without revealing any names of potential candidates. Sithole was also in charge of Ea Lla Koto at the weekend when they played to a goalless draw against SuperSport United in Umlazi on Saturday, leaving them three places from the bottom of the table with two draws and two defeats from four matches so far.

Stars face Kaizer Chiefs tomorrow night and Sithole will still be in the hot seat. Solinas could, however, be ready to take over for his second stint when they face Maritzburg United on October 15, shortly following the international break, which gives the club enough time to sort out his work permit to get him in the dugout. But the coach, who had former Bafana Bafana defender Bradley Carnell as his assistant before quitting, will find he has to again rebuild a team that desperately needed to sell four of its key players for financial reasons.

Justice Chabalala, Ayanda Nkosi and Sello Jaftha are now Pirates players, while Lucky Mohomi is at champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Carnell was also scooped up by the Buccaneers as an assistant to Muhsin Ertugral. Solinas will also have to improve the morale in the dressing room, one that took a knock under Frenchman Lavagne, who was shown the door after just three Premier League matches.