Cape Town City owner Comitis unfazed as interest in coach Benni McCarthy heightens

Cape Town City boss John Comitis is losing very little sleep over the possibility of coach Benni McCarthy being lost to the team before the start of the season‚ despite reported interest from Kaizer Chiefs and abroad.

Uefa Pro Licence holder McCarthy is reportedly the subject of interest from Scottish side St Mirren but Comitis tells TimesLIVE that it’s business as usual for the Citizens.

“Until I’m told anything from Benni himself‚ I’m assuming it’s business as usual‚” Comitis said.

“The last conversation I had with coach Benni [was] 48 hours ago [and] we discussed players we are trying to target‚ to sign‚ so I’m not anticipating any issues‚" said Comitis‚ who lost Eric Tinkler to SuperSport United last year.

“But as you know‚ football is football‚ but at this stage we carry on as normal.”

It’s the third club in a few weeks that McCarthy has been linked to after Chiefs and SuperSport‚ but Comitis insisted that McCarthy would be the man shouting instructions from the sidelines when City start pre-season training on June 25.

“At the end of the day‚ we go with what we have.

"We faced this exact situation with Eric [Tinkler] and we got Benni.

"At this stage‚ as far as I’m concerned‚ he’s going back to start training on the 25th [of June]‚” he said.

McCarthy‚ though‚ could be swayed to leave for St Mirren considering that his wife and kids are based in Scotland.

“Benni signed a three-year deal and even if you have a contract‚ you know you can buy the whole contract out‚" he said.

“If it’s a team from the UK‚ I’m sure they can afford that if they really want to‚ but it doesn’t depend on that.

"It depends on what Benni wants.

“It’s a compliment to us.

"If clubs are considering our head coach‚ it means we are doing something right‚” Comitis added.

McCarthy guided City to a commendable fifth place finish on the Absa Premiership in his first season as head coach and came up short in the MTN8 final against SuperSport.