Former Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef has addressed the issue of alleged backstabbing of Nasreddine Nabi by him and Cedric Kaze.
Youssef and Kaze were brought to Amakhosi by Nabi when he joined a season prior and the technical team went on to break the side’s 10-year trophy drought, clinching the Nedbank Cup that also gave Chiefs passage into the CAF Confederation Cup.
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Chiefs struggled for results in the early stages of Nabi’s second term while the coach also experienced some personal challenges and needing to be by his wife’s side. He eventually parted ways with the Naturena based outfit, but Youssef and Kaze remained and were tasked with leading Chiefs together as co-coaches.
In his farewell message, Nabi didn’t mention the two coaches, a fact that further fuelled allegations.
Khalil spoke exclusively to iDiski Times senior journalist Lorenz Köhler in edition 260 of the newspaper refuting the allegations saying Nabi knows the kind of person he is and wouldn’t have brought him to South Africa if he didn’t trust him.
“No, no, no. Cedric was not with us,” Youssef told iDiski Times.
“Nabi arrived with me and Fernando [da Cruz]. Majdi [Safi] and Ilyes [Mzoughi]. Fernando da Cruz then decided to go back to Morocco to join the FRMF. He went back in August, and we spent two months without a second assistant coach. Then in October, Cedric joined us. But the question? You gave the answer.
“The decision was coming from coach Nabi, to resign. And it was a discussion, the only three people who know the reality of what’s going on are Mr Kaizer Jr, Coach Nabi and Cedric. They were together in every meeting, in that moment. Just to go back, it was the accident of the wife of coach Nabi.
“Then he travelled back for a month, we took charge for three games, then people tried to push and saying we’re doing the job, not coach Nabi. You were there in those press conferences, and we always said the honest and direct thing that we’re together, the game plan is coming from coach Nabi, and we’re working as a team, it’s the whole technical staff.
“Then he came back, and after one month, it was two weeks, then a decision coming from him to resign, he told them he wanted to leave the team. So, there’s the answer. How do you want to resign and then be accused that Khalil and Cedric did this or that?
“I was with him for three seasons at Young Africans, ASFAR Rabat, and at Chiefs – so if I was bad as people said, why would he bring me along all the time? Anyway, it was a moment of this season. But there’s people at the Village who can confirm what happened. I prefer not to speak much about this subject, from my side.
“I know from the first day to the last day, I was more than honest with him. I helped him a lot, and he knows this. But if people want to talk and say we [backstabbed] him, it’s for them to say. People at Chiefs know the story and everything.”
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