By the time AmaZulu decided to tie down coach Romain Folz to a new three-year contract in the middle of last month, he boasted just three wins from the 13 games he'd overseen, with eight draws and two defeats.

For a team who pride themselves on having ambitions to finish in the top four, it was a weird decision to give Folz a lengthy new deal even when he had proven to be just a draw specialist. In an ideal world, AmaZulu would have waited until the end of the season to see if the coach deserves a new deal or not. 

To make matters worse, sources at the club say the 32-year-old Folz has lost the dressing room, with senior players such as Lehlohonolo Majoro and Keagan Buchanan among those understood to have had a fallout with him. Majoro is believed to have already packed his belongings and left the club, three months prior to the expiration of his contract. 

To date, Folz has won just four of the 18 games as Usuthu coach, losing five and drawing nine. The mentor nicknamed "Fohloza", which loosely translates to "smash", reached a new low when his Usuthu were smashed by minnows Dondol Stars in the Nedbank Cup last 16 tie at FNB Stadium. The penalty shootout defeat to Dondol, who campaign in the third-tier of SA football, proved that AmaZulu are deteriorating under Folz. He also lost the MTN8 final to Orlando Pirates in November last year.

The French-Moroccan coach, who in the eyes of Usuthu owner Sandile Zungu "is the best coach the club have ever had", has mainly attributed his rather drab spell at the Durban club to poor officiating in the PSL. Yes, the refereeing has been appalling in recent PSL games and AmaZulu have been one of the unluckiest sides in this regard, but Folz's shortcomings are beyond shoddy officiating. Losing a dressing room and being stunned by underdogs will always spell a disaster for any coach.

Seeing how they fired Fohloza's predecessor Brandon Truter after winning four of the 11 games at the club with four draws and three defeats early this season, it would be easy to predict that AmaZulu would have replaced the incumbent coach during the current Fifa break, had they not jumped the gun by offering him a new contract that expires in June 2026. Now, sacking him would be an expensive option.

To begin with, hiring Fohloza, who had no proven winning track record in the PSL after drawing five and losing one of the six games he oversaw during his brief spell at Marumo Gallants early this term, was just shocking.

Perhaps boasting the Uefa Pro Licence hoodwinked Zungu into thinking by hiring Folz he was upgrading from the two previous coaches in Truter and Benni McCarthy he's employed since purchasing Usuthu's status from the Sokhela family in October 2020.