Axe hovers over Maritzburg coach Ncikazi
AFTER collecting one point from a possible 12, Maritzburg United coach Mandla Ncikazi’s job with the Midlands’ Premiership side is on the line.
Barely three months into the season the rookie head coach could be out unless he presents a convincing turnaround strategy to the club.
The weekend’s 2-0 home defeat to Bloemfontein Celtic, a side they hadn’t lost to in their previous nine outings, left Maritzburg at the bottom of the standings with one point from four games.
They and promoted Jomo Cosmos, who have two points more, are the only winless teams.
“The bottom line for me is that the coach has failed in his mandate,” said Maritzburg chairman Farook Kadodia.
“We have given him all the help and support. If he is not managing, then in the same way how he was given the opportunity, he must take the noble decision and step down.”
Ncikazi was given his first head coach job when he was promoted from the assistant’s post following the departure of Steve Komphela to Kaizer Chiefs.
Kadodia said the club had a target of accumulating at least nine points from every five matches. After three consecutive defeats, and a failure to score in their last two matches, Maritzburg believe something must be done to protect the club’s brand.
Had Maritzburg beaten Celtic, and followed it up with another home win over Free State Stars next Tuesday, the club might have been more accepting of the situation.
“The fans and the city are worried about the future and security of the club. The coach must realise he has a major responsibility on his shoulders, otherwise he must do the honourable thing and resign.
“We can’t put the brand and the club at risk. The target was nine to 10 points in every five games. If he failed to get nine, and got at least six, then we could support him. The points aside, we don’t even have a win.
“We’ll wait for the coach to give a presentation on how he can turn the situation around; otherwise we’ll have to make decisions. Instead of firing the gun we would rather have him resign and save his dignity for the future,” said Kadodia.
A depleted defence saw Ncikazi start on the back foot, when they lost the season-opening MTN8 cup match 5-3 against Kaizer Chiefs. Work permit and transfer delays meant the couldn’t field former Ghana captain John Paintsil, Kenyan international Brian Onyango and South African under-23 captain Kwanda Mngonyama in those first four league and cup matches.
However, with a full squad available for the Celtic clash, the coach was expected to deliver a home win. Instead, Maritzburg were 2-0 down at halftime, with no plan to fight back.
In his post-match assessment, Ncikazi lamented their poor defending and conceded defeat.
“Two counter-attacks. We failed again to defend the near post on the first goal. For the second goal we wanted to stop them from crossing because we know they are a crossing team.
“Failure to deal with the cross, failure to deal with defending the near post. If you concede like this at home, you really do not deserve to win,” Ncikazi said.