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Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi pulled the trigger again and sacked manager Dan Malesela.
The Chippa United manager was fired a day after the Port Elizabeth club took a 5-1 beating from Maritzburg United in a league game on Saturday night.
Malesela was on the team bus with her players on the way to the airport when TimesLIVE contacted him Sunday morning and confirmed that his stay on the Eastern Cape side had come to an abrupt end.
“I’m on the bus on my way to the airport right now, but yeah, I’m leaving. Let’s talk later (Sunday), “said the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates defender.
A source from the club also confirmed that the door had been shown to the coach.
Malesela joined United in December in a deal that would last until the end of the 2020-21 campaign, with the option to renew for one season.
It was Malesela’s fourth stint at the club and Mpengesi said at the time that Malesela, 55, was very popular with the club’s fans.
“Affectionately known as ‘Dan Dance,’ he … led the team to a league-best result (sixth in the 2015/16 season) and a memorable place in the 2017 Nedbank Cup semifinals,” Mpengesi said in December.
“Malesela is highly regarded for her male management skills and has a proven track record of working with young talents.”
The Chippa coach tried to name controversial Belgian Luc Eymael as his new head coach last year before finally settling on Malesela.
But the Chilli Boys had to withdraw the appointment after strong objections from the South African Football Association regarding racist remarks the former Polokwane City, Black Leopards and Free State Stars coach had made at his previous club in Tanzania.
The hapless Malesela, who has been fired by Mpengesi on several occasions in the past, joined Chippa in December after being fired by TS Galaxy a week earlier, having gone six games without a win at the new PSL boys.
United are 14th in the Premier League standings and have not won a game since defeating Black Leopards 3-0 in January.
But the Eastern Cape club has reached the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup and Malesela will be gutted for being fired when he has brought the club just two games away from winning an inaugural trophy in the top flight.
This is a developing story.
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