Chiefs demote Tau

Jimmy Tau has been demoted at Kaizer Chiefs, with his captain's armband going to Tinashe Nengomasha.

Coach Vladimir Vermezovic made the call when he named the Chiefs team to play Platinum Stars on Sunday in the first round of the Telkom Knockout.

Tau was included in the starting line-up for the first time since he had a dressing-room bust-up with Vermezovic after Chiefs' shock 2-1 defeat by Golden Arrows on September 28.

"Tau is still our player, but no longer our captain," Vermezovic said on Sunday after defending champions Chiefs were bundled out of the Knockout, a trophy they had won twice in a row. Amakhosi lost 2-1 at the Royal Bafokeng stadium after extra time.

The decision to drop Tau as captain comes after a series of denials that Tau had quit the captaincy.

When The Times broke the story four weeks ago, Vermezovic and Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung shot it down.

Following Chiefs' home defeat by Arrows in Polokwane, Tau told club management that he no longer wanted to captain the team when Vermezovic questioned his leadership.

The club's hierarchy persuaded Tau to withdraw his resignation.

In a statement at the time, Tau said: "I am honoured to be leading a special group of players and it is not true that I sent an e-mail to the management [resigning the position]. I also wish to clarify that there are no issues between me and the head coach."

What happened over the next few days strongly contradicted that statement.

Tau was left out of Chiefs' friendly match at the Macufe Cup against Bloemfontein Celtic a week later, and was also sidelined for a league encounter against Black Leopards at the Peter Mokaba stadium nine days ago.

Tau had been Amakhosi's captain since 2008, subsequent to his move from rivals Orlando Pirates three years earlier.

But he has now surrendered his role as skipper to Zimbabwean hard man Nengomasha, who joined the Amakhosi as a 19-year-old teenager in 2002.

Vermezovic said "competition in the squad" was his reason for leaving Tau out of his team in earlier matches.

But at the weekend, the coach changed his mind and Tau regained his place in the starting line-up at right-back against Platinum Stars. However, Tau was not made captain.

Asked about the captaincy after the game, Vermezovic denied there was a rift between him and Tau.

"There are no problems. Tinashe is one of four captains to choose from," the coach said.

He said Chiefs would issue a statement in "the next couple of days to put this [Tau] matter to rest".