The local football coaching carousel is in full swing resulting in personnel changes at several PSL Premiership clubs.
Beleaguered Cape Town City FC closed the year 2024 with the announcement that they have relieved Eric Tinkler of the head coach’s duties.
Tinkler has been unable to halt the team's slide from grace and following their poor form, the team is 12th in the league table. As an ambitious club, Tinkler’s position would always be under pressure if the team did not produce satisfactory results. City had three wins, two draws, and five losses in 10 Premiership matches this season.
While speculation about Tinkler's replacement was doing the rounds, City announced on Thursday morning that the 65-year-old Turk Muhsin Ertuğral will take over as head coach. He is well-known in South African soccer circles having coached at least six different PSL clubs over the years.
Bradley Carnell was touted as a candidate for the job, and he could come into the frame later because Ertuğral will hold the fort until the end of the season, with Diogo Peral and Lebogang Manyama as his assistants.
Also, on New Year’s Eve, the vastly improved Chippa United announced that Kwanele Kopo has surprisingly not renewed his contract with the club. This call by Kopo must have bruised the ego of Siviwe 'Chippa’ Mpengesi, the owner of Chippa United, who for once did not fire a coach. No club owner has fired more coaches than Mpengesi in the history of SA football.
Assistant coach Thabo September, the former SuperSport United defender, has been appointed head coach of the Eastern Cape side.
Prior to the departure of Tinkler and Kopo, Clinton Larsen dropped a bombshell by resigning from Magesi FC. He played a huge role in guiding Magesi to promotion to the Premiership for the first time in their history. Later, under his guidance, Magesi defied the odds to win the Carling Knockout after defeating the star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns in the final.
Soon afterwards, Richards Bay sent Brandon Truter packing. The club sacked him after Richards Bay lost 2-1 to 10-man Kaizer Chiefs in late November. Earlier this season, Richards Bay also sacked Vusumuzi Vilakazi.
Also in November, Sead Ramovic shocked the nation when he resigned from TS Galaxy, six matches into the season.
Since then, he joined the Tanzanian side Young Africans FC.
Other coaches that have parted ways with PSL clubs include Manqoba Mngqithi (Mamelodi Sundowns), Peter Hyballa (Sekhukhune United) and Pablo Franco Martin (AmaZulu).
Mngqithi replaced Rhulani Mokwena unceremonious in July and had a rocky start to his tenure. In the domestic arena, he crashed out of the MTN8 in the semi-finals and then lost the Carling Knockout final to Magesi FC. He failed to win the first two Group B's CAF Champions League matches and replaced by Miguel Cardoso.
The German-born Hyballa resigned from his job even before coaching in an official match. SABC Sport reported the coach resigned owing to allegations of misconduct, which included a sex scandal.
The Spaniard, Franco was the first Premiership coach to face the axe after a poor start to the season. The former Simba SC coach had coached the team for only 15 months and suffered losses against Marumo Gallants, Kaizer Chiefs, and Orlando Pirates.