One thing about coach Ernst Middendorp, as a soccer journalist, you can never bet your house on getting him for an interview, but boy, when he does avail himself, he will spit fire if the need arises. This is a mark of a courageous coach, in an industry that is often not too kind on coaches. Such that it is usually advised that after signing a contract, a coach should not unpack but rather put his suitcase nearer to the exit. For the evidence, look no further than last week's shocking events, where the German mentor dumped Tanzanian Premier League side Singida Fountain Gate after only two weeks in charge. That it came on the back of a 1-0 CAF Confederation Cup preliminary stages win over Future FC raised further suspicion. The 64-year-old then released a strongly-worded statement explaining his decision, hinting at interference from club management. Why could the former Kaizer Chiefs mentor not have made a different decision? Soccer Laduma's Masebe Qina gets the full story from the horse's mouth.
Masebe Qina: Coach, last week Tuesday we learnt of your sudden resignation from Singida Fountain Gate FC of Tanzania, just two weeks into the job. What happened?
Ernst Middendorp: Read my statement, and Thabo (Senong), (Thembalethu) Moses and Kelvin (Ndlomo) can confirm what happened because they were present in the meeting. For over 35 minutes, I had to listen to this…you know this boss I'm talking about is the Minister of Finance in Tanzania (Mwigulu Nchemba), who thought that he has the details of the game in his massive memory. Now, the question is always, what are you doing as a coach? You found a team two weeks and two days before a very important game to qualify for the international business. It was flat, it was not cohesive and it was absolutely a bunch of individual players. You do everything, twice a day, training and working with them around the clock and making sure that you are prepared for the (CAF Confederation Cup) game against a team from the Egyptian league (Future FC). We all know that the Egyptian league is not a league from just around the corner or from a position of mediocrity, I think it's in top two all the time on the continent. You win the game … and it could have been 2-0 … and then in the morning, you must listen to this s**t! What are you doing as a coach now? As a coach, when you are soft and when you are not confident and when you are sitting on the other side of the table to the Minister of Finance of a country, of course you shut up. Of course, you keep quiet and you say thank you for the statement and… That's not me, I can't do that!
MQ: So, you were not given a chance to have a say in the meeting?
EM: I know what I can do and I know what I've worked for, and I expect at least a bit of appreciation and that was going totally into the other direction. For whatever reason, he thinks he can read the game or that he can put players into where he can. That's not me, I couldn't sit and continue like that. I excused myself from the meeting and I excused myself from the working relationship, and that was it. In the next 20 hours, this morning (Tuesday 19 September), I was back in the country and in Johannesburg – simple and easy. It's not about the money, you can keep the money. It's not about whether I get paid for these two or three weeks. I don't take s**t! I love this work, but the worst thing now are the comments I get from the players. I worked with the players and the players enjoyed every second and, for me, that is appreciation for the biggest value that you add. The players were able to see what has been done in the two weeks and two days that I worked with them. That, for me, is very important.
MQ: The players must have been disappointed then when you left.
EM: I'm sure! If you ask them as part of your interviews, I'm quite sure that (they will say) they are very upset. I couldn't continue like that. You know, I have had an incident which I never spoke about. I had a similar situation previously, but I continued with the job. I had a similar situation here in the PSL. Jimmy and Ikie (Augousti brothers) sold the club (Bloemfontein Celtic) to Max Tshabalala – that was in 2014, I think. They informed me about it and I had some meetings with them where they explained their decision to me. I then met Max Tshabalala and he explained what he wanted to see and what he wanted to have. I then told him that we needed to discuss some things. If the Minister of Finance yesterday had asked for my reasons for leaving certain players out of the 20 (matchday squad) and some players out of the 11 who he thought were good players and so on, I would have sat there for the next 20 hours to discuss, no problem. But a statement to say this and this and this, and everything is wrong and everything is not as expected… this is not the way.
MQ: By the way, what happened at Celtic?
EM: I asked this Max Tshabalala at a certain time when he said, "This has to be like this", and I said, "Okay, give me the reason. Just tell me. Let's discuss so that I understand as to why it should be like that." You know what the answer was?
MQ: Go on and tell us!
EM: The answer was, "Because I say so." I repeat, Max Tshabalala responded to me by saying, "Because I say so." I continued working at Bloemfontein Celtic under Max Tshabalala, but the relationship was broken and I never saw myself into the direction of working (for long) … and of course, three or four months later, I was fired. (Takes a pause) "Because I say so."
MQ: Must have felt like déjà vu, what just happened in Tanzania…
EM: Yes, I got a reminder because I had promised myself in 2015 that I would never continue to work if I got a statement like that from any of the presidents of clubs ever again. For me, that was similar, and that's the reality. That's why I said in one of the last sentences of my statement that I didn't even want to try because I could see that it was impossible to correct those people and to make them professional regarding the game of soccer. No chance! They said they have the details of the game in their massive memories, but they don't have those.
MQ: Was the Minister of Finance in any of the training sessions to see how you worked with the players?
EM: No! Not in the training sessions, and not even at the games or test games or whatever. Never.
MQ: In any of the meetings before you joined, did you get an inkling that something like that may happen?
EM: No!
MQ: Was he involved in any of the discussions for you to link up with the club?
EM: I had an eight-minute meeting (with him) around 06h55 when I was there to check out some things and they made a very good impression. He didn't say much and he looked to me like he was going to give full authority about game-related stuff to the experts. Ja, that was my impression on the Wednesday on the 30th of August when I met him at 06h55.
MQ: How did he and the board feel when you stormed out of the meeting unexpectedly?
EM: I don't know and I didn't ask. I have no idea as I excused myself from the meeting and from the working relationship and I packed my belongings. I bought my business ticket and, a few hours later, I flew to Jo'burg and I arrived this morning (19 September) at 06h00.
MQ: Where does this leave coaches Senong, Moses and Ndlomo?
EM: They signed contracts individually and I'm not having packages. They have specifically goalkeeper coaching, conditioning coaching and assistant coaching duties. They have to decide, it's nothing to do with me. They are still there and they had a training session today and they have a league game on Thursday (21 September) against Azam at 19h00 Tanzanian time.
MQ: Ernst, people might have a perception that you leave clubs prematurely…
EM: (Cuts in) No, no, no, there's a reason for it. There was a reason even when I published it (statement) about Swallows (FC, now Moroka Swallows) and even there, there was a reason for it.
MQ: Where to from here?
EM: Right now, I'm in South Africa. I like the job and I like coaching and I know that I have a lot of capacity to provide the knowledge and to turn around a team. I was really expecting to get a good club and in a positive way. Winning against an Egyptian team is not easy and it doesn't happen often. After a good start, I was 100% sure that we could get the team attacking in terms of transitions. I know what I'm doing and I know what I can do and what I'm capable of. I have shown it worldwide and that's what it is. I'm here and I'm relaxing at the moment, and I'm not waiting intentionally, but if it comes, it's fine.
MQ: In your most recent interview with Soccer Laduma, you said you were already preparing for what you termed a "special season" with Maritzburg United when you learnt in June last year that the club had made the decision to cut ties. It's now history that they got relegated.
EM: It's upsetting. The idea of benchmarking a coach … I mean, benchmarking, I don't know why they wanted to do what they did. We built a structure with a number of players and it was not only the goalkeeper, not only the defender from Cape Verde (Steven Pereira), not only with Travis Graham, not only with Daylon Claasen, not only with (Friday) Samu, not only with Amadou (Soukouna) and so on, we brought in a number of core players and we could have built a team to the next season. I think it was totally unnecessary to go into the direction they thought of. Obviously, the board make these decisions – I don't know, just leave it like this. They made the decision, but the outcome speaks. The outcome is there and they are where they are in this moment. I think the outcome suggests that the decision that was made was probably wrong.
MQ: Coach, hoping to chat again soon. Thanks for affording us your time.
EM: Okay, no problem, all good. Ciao (Goodbye), ciao.
