Pascalinah Kabi
MASERU — Premier League champions Matlama have fired head coach Ntebele Taole (pictured below) just a few games into the new season.
Taole, affectionately known as Tata, told the Sunday Express he was sacked on Tuesday.
“They fired me but I do not know the reasons why I was fired,” he said.
His future with Tse Putsoa was already cast in doubt as his charges struggled to wrap up the championship last season.
In August, the club suspended Taole following a dispute over a player.
But the 57-year-old gaffer was reinstated a few days after Matlama lost their league opener to Lerotholi on September 11.
He was in charge of Matlama’s next three league assignments – one win and two draws – as well as Tse Putsoa’s two wins and a draw in the Independence Cup a fortnight ago.
Now he has been told to pack and go.
Taole said Matlama had pulled the rug from under his feet because, before he was sacked, he had lodged complaints against the team’s executive.
“Someone arrived at my place on Tuesday to deliver a letter but I refused to take it because I had just lodged a case against them,” he said.
“I later learnt that it was a dismissal letter.”
Taole refused to divulge details of his “complaints”.
“With due respect, I can’t disclose my charges against them until they have been addressed by Matlama compatriots,” he said.
“But firing me was just their way of getting out of trouble because they knew very well that they would not win this case I laid against them.”
Matlama public relations officer Lesolle Phalatsi was evasive on why the club had shown Taole the door.
Taole has been replaced by his assistant Mokoena Mohale.
Matlama have also appointed Mahao “Bomba” Matete as technical adviser, Khotso Mokalanyane as assistant coach and Mokhethi Rampoporo as fitness trainer and physiotherapist.
“We decided to make these changes because Matlama is a people’s team which does not want to take a long time without developing people within our ranks,” Phalatsi said.
“We engage all these people to ensure that they understudy others so that they can be promoted to higher positions within the team.
“We try by all means to live up to our name and our mission of developing our own people.”
He said Taole would still be consulted whenever the team needed his advice.
“Matlama is a big team that does not fire our people and he will still be consulted whenever we need his advice,” Phalatsi said.
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