Benni McCarthy could have made a swift return to the dugout in the Premier Soccer League after leaving Cape Town City, but his put his family's needs first.
Ajax Cape Town CEO Ari Efstathiou has confirmed what the Siya crew reported back in January that the club held talks with the former Bafana Bafana striker to take over the vacant coaching position shortly after Andries Ulderink quit.
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"At the time we got the resignation from Andries we were sitting two points ahead at the top (of the GladAfrica Championship). We were a little bit concerned on what the next best move would be, we didn't want a coach who would bring strange methods," Efstathiou said during a press conference with the SA Football Journalists Association.
"We felt at the time Benni could come in and not necessarily change what we were doing, but rather bring his management skills – his relationship with players is very good. That's what attracted us to him at the time and I had several meetings with him at the time and he was very keen to come."
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McCarthy parted ways with Cape Town City in November following a string of bad results in the Absa Premiership, but snubbed the chance to bounce back at another club.
"But with his family being away (in Scotland), and I don't think his wife wanted to return to SA, his view that he wanted to further his career in Europe was his reasons for not coming down to us. There was never a discussion of money, we never got to it," the Ajax boss explained.
"But I think those were the two main reasons. Nevertheless, it didn't happen and we gave the position to Calvin (Marlin) and look at the results."
McCarthy could very well consider if Ajax engage him further in the coming months with Efstathiou saying the club will revisit appointing a permanent coach – Marlin's inexperience counts against him, but he is a candidate.
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