Rumours over vacant post irk Mumble

The tough-talking South African Football Association (Safa) chief executive Dennis Mumble has issued a stern warning to coaches using the media to campaign for the vacant Bafana Bafana job to stop doing so or risk automatic disqualification from the race.

Outrageous stories linking several names to the job have escalated since Ephraim ''Shakes" Mashaba was fired last month, and suspicion persists that some coaches mentioned are the originators of their own rumours.

Mumble took exception to claims that Serb Milutin "Micho" Sredojevic has already signed a pre-contract with Safa that guarantees him the job when this year's Africa Cup of Nations ends.

Sredojevic is in Gabon with the Uganda national team and the rumour mill claims he will be on the first flight to OR Tambo International Airport at the end of the showpiece to take ownership of Mashaba's old office at Safa House.

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''An alien spaceship has a greater chance of landing in front of the Times Media building in Rosebank in broad daylight than of Sredojevic being guaranteed the Bafana job, or even having a pre-contract with us," a fuming Mumble said.

''It is the craziest thing I have ever heard. It is as crazy as eating funny food. Unbelievable. No one at Safa has spoken to Sredojevic - not the president [Danny Jordaan], not Natasha [Anastasia Tsichlas, Safa technical committee head] and certainly not myself.

''There is no one in South Africa who will sign the contract of a Bafana Bafana coach except for me.

''I am the only person authorised to sign the contracts of employees at Safa and I have never signed a contract of any kind that has Sredojevic's name on it."

Mumble said not only has he never spoken to Sredojevic or his representatives, the Serb will be automatically disqualified from the race if the Safa CEO discovers that he is behind the speculation linking him to the job.

''Let me make this clear, any coach who uses the media to secure employment at Safa is an automatic disqualification. If we find out that he has done that, we will rule him out automatically. It's that simple," he emphasised.

Mumble said finding a new Bafana coach will not be as difficult as some believe and that they expect the process to be wrapped up quickly after it has officially begun.

He said Safa will not rush to make an appointment and have given themselves until March to complete the search.

This should also give them enough time to deal with Mashaba, who is challenging his dismissal and has instructed his legal representatives to take his case to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

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Mashaba - found guilty of several charges, including gross misconduct and insubordination - wants to be reinstated as he believes he was dismissed unfairly.

And should he not be reinstated, he wants to be paid out the remainder of a contract that was to run until next year's Fifa World Cup in Russia.

Besides Sredojevic, Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz, former Orlando Pirates coaches Ruud Krol and Roger de Sa and Mamelodi Sundowns' irrepressible mentor Pitso Mosimane have also been linked to the job.

Mumble said he found the speculation linking Queiroz to the job absurd and insisted nothing could be further from the truth.

''Carlos comes to South Africa every year because he has family here," Mumble said. ''Whenever he is here he contacts us. His name seems to be linked to the job whenever he is in the country.

"It happened when he was seen in Cape Town during the African Nations Championship in 2014 while Gordon Igesund was still the Bafana coach.

''And we are back there again?"