Dan Malesela has responded to suggestions that he has resigned as Royal AM head coach amid links with a shock return to Marumo Gallants.
Malesela and Gallants parted ways back in June after he guided the club to the Nedbank Cup final and retained their top-flight status.
His work at the club earned him widespread plaudits due to their enterprising style of play and at one point was touted for a move to a bigger club.
When asked if Gallants meet the ambitions he has as a coach back in June, he stated, that all coaches have ambitions to win trophies but remained mum over whether it could be elsewhere.
A month later he was without a job and replaced by Frenchman Romain Folz. But the story continued for ‘Dan Dance’ at Royal AM as part of a head coaching trio alongside Khabo Zondo and Abram Nteo.
It appeared to be a move in the right direction, with a club seemingly with more resources, also playing in the CAF Confederation Cup and with ambitions to win silverware.
But this website reported on Monday that Malesela was not happy with the set-up at the KZN outfit and was said to be disillusioned by the recent inclusion of Chairman Andile Mpisane in the matchday squad.
Sources close to Royal AM indicated that the 57-year-old has resigned from his role as co-coach but he’s denied it stating he’s set to meet the President on Wednesday over the reported family issues.
“I’m meeting the President [Mkhize] tomorrow so that we can talk, there’s nothing that is untoward here,” he told iDiski Times.
“It’s nothing for the media, it’s about my family, there are things I need to sort out, people saw me leaving and probably rushed to the media. I just came home to sort out some issues.
“I will meet with the President tomorrow because there are issues that have been troubling me at home. I have a flight [back to KZN] that is booked for Friday. There’s a match on Friday and I need to be there.”
When probed about his links to Gallants, with suggestions that Chairman Abram Sello admitted it was an error of judgement to allow him to leave and now what him back, Malesela was rather philosophical in his response but stated he is ‘still contracted to Royal AM’ at the time of the conversation.
“My exit from Marumo, it’s football [if they think it was a mistake], people do things and things happen in football, it’s like any other industry, we all make mistakes. I’ve chosen clubs I shouldn’t have gone to, I’m not a God of anything, I make mistakes,” he said.
“I have family issues, I need to solve these issues with the President, there are things my family wants that have to do with the club, so I have to deal with those things with the President then I’m done. It does affect my job, somewhat.
“I have never spoken to any club, there’s been speculations about Sekhukhune, Marumo – I have not spoken to anyone at Sekhukhune, I have not spoken to anyone at Marumo Gallants, I have not spoken to anyone at Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs.
“People were already aligning me with Chiefs but I’ve not spoken to anyone of any club, if anyone speaks to me tomorrow… it’s a different story. Because these things can happen in an hour or one minute.
“At the moment I am employed at Royal AM and I respect the Royal AM brand and I don’t want to rubbish anything about the brand.”
