‘No hard feelings’ says disappointed Kaitano Tembo as he breaks silence after departure from SuperSport

14 April 2022 - 12:53
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Kaitano Tembo has broken his silence following departure from SuperSport United.
Kaitano Tembo has broken his silence following departure from SuperSport United.
Image: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

A disappointed Kaitano Tembo says he has no hard feelings towards anyone at SuperSport United after he was relieved of his coaching duties this week in a move that surprised a lot of people.

Tembo, who has been with the club for more than two decades as a player and then a junior and senior coach, parted ways with the club on Tuesday.

With six matches remaining in the DStv Premiership campaign, SuperSport occupies eighth spot on the standings and they are under pressure from Golden Arrows, Sekhukhune United and Marumo Gallants.

“As much as I am disappointed, when you look back over the years I can’t lose sight of the fact that the club looked after me very well,” Tembo told TimesLIVE in his first interview since he left the club.

“The club spent so much time on me, they have looked after me very well all these years and they have played a huge role in my life as a human being and career as a player and coach.

“I appreciate the role they played in my life and I leave a better person than I was when I arrived more than 20 years ago. There are no hard feelings towards anyone at the club.

“Actually, I take this opportunity to thank the chairman Khulu Sibiya who has always been there for me since I was a player. He has been very supportive to me.

“I would also like to thank the club’s board and CEO Stan Matthews who has been like a mentor to me. I can only say good things about these people including the rest of the staff, technical team, players and the supporters.

“They have been there for me, they have given me all the support and because of these things there are a lot of good things that I can say about the club. This is not something that I can take to heart and say the club did this or that to me.”

There is a general sense that the club did not give Tembo necessary transfer support because they didn’t do enough to adequately replace the likes of Thuso Phala, Dean Furman, Aubrey Modiba, Clayton Daniels, Bongani Khumalo, Teboho Mokoena, Grant Kekana and Evans Rusike.

“To some extent I understand where those people are coming from but the club took a different direction in terms of using more young players while at the same time remaining ambitious.

“What is important for me is what has happened over the years in terms of what the club has done for me. That is the huge thing that I take out of this relationship.”

Tembo could not hide the disappointment.

“Obviously having been at the club for this long, it was a disappointment especially leaving the project that we started where we were using a lot of young players.

“I was very excited about the project because it was building for the future and it was for the long term. There are very good and exciting young players who we promoted and we gave them a lot of game time to help with their development.

“You can look at some of the games that we lost, we showed that there is quality in the team but when you use a lot of young players sometimes there is a lack of consistency.

“Sometimes there is a lack of leadership in certain areas but I was happy with what we had.”

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