Former Cape Town Spurs goalkeeper Sam Ramsbottom has pointed a finger of blame at Ernst Middendorp for how things turned out for him at the club.
Ramsbottom joined Spurs in 2023 from Scottish side FC Edinburgh.
"There's a lot to unpack," he tells KickOff.com.
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"I have a lot of positives about the club, but the way it's run was a complete horror show, and I've spoken about it briefly on a podcast in the UK."
"They forced me to train with the [DStv] Diski [Challenge] team. They refused to communicate with me regarding reasons why and wouldn't allow me to follow the club handbook to speak to my direct line manager, being 'the football manager' as per their handbook, and turned down my requests for a meeting.
"For the two weeks before my last game, we had no goalkeeper coach to take sessions of a 'professional standard'.
"My time there was fantastic, but towards the end, it became sour. When coach Ernst Middendorp came in... In respect, when you shake somebody's hand, you look him in the eye, and quite frankly, when he shook my hand and introduced himself, he turned his head away. And from that point [things turned sour], to be honest, before I even set foot on the pitch for him.
"We played two games under Middendorp I was involved in. I think we played Royal AM, and we got beat. I remember being called to the office by the Technical Director at the time, Sean Connor," he explains.
The lanky goalkeeper alleges Connor told him the coach at this point no longer wanted anything to do with him, and even wrote a report stating Ramsbottom was the reason Spurs were in the relegation zone.
"All this happened while I missed five games due to work permit issues. Compared on games [played], I know I was up there with Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United.
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"A week before Christmas, I was told I would no longer be involved in training, I would no longer train with the lads. I asked if I could join the goalkeepers' afternoon session, and obviously, I got a resounding 'NO' from Middendorp, coming from his office. He didn't have the decency to come and speak to me."
In the spirit of Fair Play that KickOff lives by, the Urban Warriors' CEO Alexi Efstathiou, was contacted for the club's side of the story.
"We have no comment to make regarding disgruntled players," Efstathiou says.
"These are internal matters, and a club responding and exposing issues relating to players, coaches, and staff is unprofessional and would be detrimental to their careers going forward, which we, therefore elect not to do."