SAFA have rejected Molefi Ntseki’s counter proposal for the Bafana Bafana assistant coach job, leading to the end of their negotiations.
The Siya crew previously reported that the federation had offered Ntseki a role as the national team’s second in command after initially sacking him at the end of March, and this offer came prior to Hugo Broos being appointed his successor.
But shortly after he was hired, Broos then told SAFM in a radio interview last week that he was keen on having Ntseki as part of his technical team, alongside Cedomir Janevski, comments that were later rubbished by SAFA.
“We have been in contact with the federation about coach Ntseki coming back as an assistant coach, in fact we received the offer a while back,” Thato Matuka, who represents Ntseki, confirmed to the Siya crew.
“There was then a meeting between coach Ntseki and coach Broos, twice, to discuss the possibility of working together and it was agreed that he would consider it. But when we met with SAFA, we could not agree on the terms of the new contract.”
Broos’ interview was not long after SAFA had issued a statement confirming a settlement had been agreed with Ntseki following his sacking as Bafana coach nearly two months ago as a result of failing to qualify the team for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The 69-year-old had described his predecessor as an “encyclopaedia” hence he was pushing to have him as his assistant.
But he will now have to look elsewhere, with David Notoane also touted as a possible candidate.
Notoane is the current head coach of the U/23 team heading to the Tokyo Olympics.
“We have taken the decision to close the chapter after we proposed to take the assistant coach job on a part-time basis, similarly to how Arthur Zwane and Kwanele Kopo were contracted by the association when Mr Ntseki was the Bafana head coach,” Matuka explained.
“But still, we could not find each other on personal terms. With that said, we would still like to thank the SAFA president (Danny Jordaan) and the CEO (Tebogo Motlanthe) for the opportunity.”
Ntseki was appointed Bafana coach in August 2019 following Stuart Baxter’s resignation and had been contracted until 2023.
Story by @superjourno
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