KickOff can confirm that Baroka FC have suspended their head coach, Dan "Dance" Malesela, and replaced him with the man who previously served the club as CEO, Morgan Mammila.
Mammila was recently shown the door at Chippa United, where he served as Technical Director.
Baroka chairman Khurishi Mphahlele exclusively revealed to this website why they had to place Malesela on special leave.
"Mammila did the training session today [Monday], his first. He is coming as a coach until the end of the season, that's if we don't suspend him after the first match," Mphahlele reveals.
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"Nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow. It was not our plan to suspend our coach during the play-offs, but it happened. So, nobody knows what might happen with Morgan tomorrow.
"Why Mammila? He is the only available coach who's got the calibre we are looking for," he further explained.
The Limpopo side lost their away match against University of Pretoria in the play-offs at Tuks Stadium on Sunday.
"We are playing the play-offs, we are not playing the knock-outs, meaning it's home and away. Home and away fixture means everybody [has] got an advantage when they are hosting. But when you are playing away, it's a disadvantage.
"Getting a single point playing away is like a victory. But us Baroka, what did we do on Sunday in the 88th minute? We substituted a central midfielder with an attacking player. This meant we didn't want a draw; instead, we chased the whole three points.
"A big mistake!
"The problem with our coach [Malesela] is you can't tell him anything. You tell him something, he is fighting. All the time, he is fighting. He doesn't want to hear anything from us."
However, Mphahlele says the suspension is not entirely related to Sunday's result as it has been coming.
According to the Bakgaga chairman, Malesela is being investigated for playing a 'middle man' between DStv Premiership sides and the club's players.
"Rumours are going around, and I'm trying to establish the truth about those rumours. They are the reason we suspended him, we didn't suspend him because of the weekend result," explains the chairman.
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"He's been linking our players with other clubs, I'm talking about PSL clubs, while we are facing this big problem of having to win the play-offs. And now we are investigating him.
"Those clubs are not phoning me as the club's chairman, they are phoning him directly. The investigation is based on that, it's not about the result."
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