Suspended Baroka coach Vincent Kobola has hit back at chairman Khurishi Mphahlele, insisting the club knew he was going to attend the coaching course in Johannesburg.

Mphahlele said yesterday that Kobola attended the coaching course without the club’s approval and that’s why he was suspended without pay.

However, Kobola said Mphahlele gave him the blessing in front of the players to attend, and he’s now surprised when he says it was not approved.

“How can I go without their permission because I was even driving the (club’s) car?" Kobola asked when Sowetan called him for a response.

“He [Mphahlele] knew that I was going there. I told him before I left that I was not going to come back with the team as I’m going to attend the course and he said ‘it’s okay’. You can even ask the players if I was given permission.

“He just wants to ruin my name. I mean the coaching course is helping me and the club. I did ask for permission.”

Kobola feels this was a plan to get rid of him as the club announced Bushy Moloi as the caretaker coach.

“When I was attending the disciplinary hearing, they already announced the coach who they said was a caretaker but he came with his technical team.”

But Mphahlele maintains that Kobola was away without official leave and they are waiting for the outcome of the DC to make a decision.

“The coach went Awol. He didn’t ask for permission and the club was busy training,” Mphahlele insists.

Asked why the coach’s salary was also not paid, Mphalele said they don’t pay someone who doesn’t come to work.

“If you don’t work, you don’t get paid,” he said.

“You can’t just go somewhere without the knowledge of the team and expect to be paid. No work, no pay, simple.”

Meanwhile, Mphahlele also described Jackson Mabokgwane, Jerry Msane, Nkosinathi Ononogbu and Decide Chauke as the poor performers for the club.

These players have now been deemed surplus to requirements. Mabokgwane was facing a bleak future at the club as he was not invited to resume training with the team after a short break due to the ongoing Fifa World Cup in preparation for the second half of the season.

“We were dealing with poor performances. They were the poor performers. That’s why we released them.”