Did Mmesi stab Kalambo in the back?

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Thursday November 4, 2010 00:00

 

Kalambo told Mmegi Sport that his deputy undermined his authority and accused management of failing to take action to remedy the situation.

The Zambia mentor was speaking a day after he was shown the door for poor results.

The former Zambia Schools XI star accused the former Killer Giants coach of costing him his job. He alleged that Mmesi deliberately divided the squad and went behind his back to tell the players that he (Mmesi) was better than the head coach.

'Can you imagine him telling players that he was not Kalambo. That was definitely to say 'I am better than him'. My job was not going to be easy while he was there,' Kalambo said.

 He felt that the BMC management did not take action when he raised some issues that contributed to the team's shoddy performance. Kalambo believes that he did not deserve to be fired.

'There were several issues and the assistant coach was only complicating things and no one seemed to care and now I am the sacrificial lamb,' he complained.

But Mmesi denied sabotaging Kalambo, insisting that he had offered the former Ndola United midfield dynamo all the support.

'I am shocked to hear that. I have given Kalambo all the respect and never antagonised him because I believed he knew what he was doing. He should not give excuses or point fingers but face his situation and move on. I am not that desperate, if people think I was eyeing his position then they should think again because as I speak I have received offers from both Notwane and Letlapeng who won't back off despite me turning them down several times. In fact I knew the team wanted to fire Kalambo some time back and I told them not to because I thought the team's performance would improve with time. So for him to say I wanted him to fail is untrue,' Mmesi said.

Mmesi said he suspected that someone within the management was spreading allegations that he stabbed Kalambo in the back. He has threatened to quit saying he is not desperate for the job.

'If they fired Kalambo because they wanted to employ me and fire me later then they better think again. I have told the chairman (Sonny Phiri) just that. If I am employed it should be in good faith with no strings attached. I am not desperate,' he said.