Five men in line for Bafana hot seat

BOOSTED by the Labour Court’s decision to throw out an application by former Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba to block them from appointing his successor, Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble yesterday said the search committee was days away from announcing the ideal candidate for the vacant national team post.

Mumble had to hurriedly field questions from reporters at Safa House in Nasrec after Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who is attending a summit in Joburg, snubbed interview requests from the media.

It was minutes after the Labour Court had made its ruling on Mashaba’s attempt to stop Safa from replacing him.

“I don’t want to be emotional about this whole thing. I think it is a very difficult process for the coach and for the association,” Mumble said.

“We have to respect what the courts said. He (Mashaba) is one of the great coaches to have worked for Safa and has had more than one stint and I don’t think we are here to make enemies.

“And it is not our intention to make an enemy here because he remains a valuable member of SA football and that is how we will treat him.”

The Labour Court outcome has no bearing on the arbitration hearing that will decide Mashaba’s fate once and for all on March 7, 8 and 9.

Mumble confirmed that the search panel for the Bafana job, which includes Lucas Radebe, Neil Tovey, Farouk Khan and Benni McCarthy, had narrowed down the list of candidates from 61 to just five, but Safa had not yet made contact with these hopefuls.

It is believed that Morocco coach Hervé Renard and his Iran counterpart Carlos Queiroz are front runners for the national team job, with Hugo Broos, a man who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon earlier this month, also in with a chance after he showed interest in the post.

“My task in the next couple of days is to articulate the terms to the candidates we have identified.

“I have seen a list of five names in the media, but that is not the real list,” Mumble said.

“We work on a four-year cycle and we want the coach to prepare us as well as take us to the 2018 World Cup. I can’t reveal the names as yet because some of the candidates are currently contracted elsewhere, but have obviously indicated they are interested in the Bafana job.” @superjourno SEASON OF DEFEAT: Leicester City’s players walk off dejected after their 1-0 defeat to Millwall this weekend.