Chippa United sack Mammila and bring back Lentjies
Chippa United coach Morgan Mammila has been shown the revolving door at the notoriously trigger-happy club by chair Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi.
This comes after the team’s 2-1 DStv Premiership defeat to Moroka Swallows at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday.
Mammila confirmed his dismissal to TimesLIVE on Monday morning.
He has been replaced by former coach Kurt Lentjies, who returned to the team as an assistant earlier this month.
Former journeyman administrator Mammila’s appointment to the bench, first as an assistant coach and then replacing Daine Klate as head coach seven games into the 2022-23 season, raised eyebrows.
He started with four wins in a row, but slowly Chippa lost form as they lost five, drew four and won two of their 11 league and cup games since. The Chilli Boys are in 13th place in the league.
It was not clear if Mammila would be retained in an administrative capacity.
A month ago Mpengesi promised not to press panic buttons over Chippa’s coaching seat.
“We played 18 games and we have 21 points. I think we are heading in a good direction,” he told TimesLIVE in late January.
“If you look at the game against Royal AM we could have won, we deserved to win it so credit to this team and its young technical team.
“There are a lot of places where they need to improve. But [if you look at] where we are sitting, I’m really not in a panic — one or two wins and we’ll be out of this.”
Chippa host AmaZulu in the league in their next game at Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday.