JUST IN! Supersport show Kaitano Tembo the exit door

The Nedbank Cup defeat to GladAfrica Championship side Tshakhuma was the last straw for SuperSport chief executive officer Stanley Matthews, who was left with no choice but to pull the plug on Kaitano Tembo and showed him the door after serving the club for over two decades as a player and a coach in different levels.

Tembo was dismissed as the head coach of Matsatsantsa A Pitori this afternoon after a string a poor results, leaving the capital city-based outfit lingering on eighth position in the DStv Premiership while they also bombed out of the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals at the hands of Tshakhuma. The Venda-based outfit came back from 2-0 down to land the knockout blow in extra-time, beating The Spartans 3-2 this past weekend. This is unacceptable, Matthews suggested.

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“He is a humble and hard working guy but unfortunately in football we judge by results and we have now gone 11 games and only got 11 points. We have tossed away some games where we were in front and could have wrapped it up but we threw away a lot of points in the league,” said the SuperSport CEO.

“Then we went on and lost to a GladAfrica Championship side in the Nedbank Cup which is something that has not happened to us before. We don’t think we should have lost that game and unfortunately the sting of results just became too much and that is the hard nature of football. Nothing can erase what Kaitano has done for this club, he is the third longest serving coach. Who knows, maybe in the future the doors will open for the club for Kaitano and we wish him well and we look forward to watching him making his mark in South African football,” he added.

However Matthews spoke colorfully of the Zimbabwean born, showering him praises and showing a token of appreciation for his long service at the club.

“He has left with immediate effect and the team will be with Andre Arendse, Grant Johnson and Thabo September until the end of the season. It is a sad day in the life of our football club because Kaitano has been a loyal and long serving member of the club for 23 years. He served us well as a player and in the academy he did well, winning trophies. He earned his place as an assistant coach to Gavin Hunt, later to Stuart Baxter and Eric Tinkler,” Matthews said.

He added: “He grabbed the opportunity to be head coach with both hands and took us to two cup finals. He promoted so many good young players into the team and helped us in the transfer market. It is mixed emotions because he contributed so much and we all love him so much. He has been a permanent feature for over two decades, which is something that is very rare.”