Extension Gunners’ assistant coach Nelson Olebile has been suspended by the club indefinitely following allegations that he is sabotaging head coach Maxwell Moyo.
This was confirmed to Sunday Standard on Friday afternoon by the club’s chairman, William Maboane, who said it was done in good faith.
“His suspension follows reports that he is sabotaging the head coach and by suspending him we want to establish if indeed it’s true. I want to make it clear that the suspension is not a decision of the executive committee only, it was done in consultation with the head coach,” said Maboane.
He pointed out that Olebile remains an employee of Gunners and will be paid fully pending the investigations. He dismissed recent reports that they suspended Olebile in order to expose the coach who was given an ultimatum three weeks ago to deliver or ship out.
“We’re in good terms with the coach and we’re fully supportive of him. At the moment, all we need is the results. We want to review the situation and very soon a decision will be taken and communicated to you,” said Maboane. Before their game against ECCO City Greens (which was ongoing at the time going to press) at Francistown Stadium yesterday (Saturday), Gunners have suffered three consecutive defeats against BDF XI, BMC and Mochudi Centre Chiefs.
When contacted for comment, Olebile said that he was surprised to hear the reports that he is sabotaging the coach.
“We had a meeting with the coach and committee members prior to our game against Chiefs (last weekend) after I heard the sabotage allegations and he (coach) clearly denied it.┬á I‘m worried because the suspension thing really tarnishes my image because people would think I’m not a good person to work with,” said Olebile.
The disappointed assistant coach said that in the interim, he would wait for a word from the management because his letter of suspension states that he remains Gunners’ employee.
A fuming Moyo told Sunday Standard that the management of Gunners must come out clear on the issue and not make him a bad person. He said that Olebile’s suspension was done without his consent and was only communicated to him on Tuesday night after he asked about his whereabouts.
“I am a foreigner and don’t want to be involved in such things. They (management) have to tell you the truth and I don’t want my name to be dragged in the mud. Nelson is my workmate and what happened to him can happen to me tomorrow. Just go and ask Nelson how our relationship is, if he’s honest he’ll tell you that it’s very good,” said Moyo.
According to sources, the management wants Moyo to fail so that they can fire him. It is reported that already, there are names put in place to replace Moyo if the results are not forthcoming.
“I don’t want to believe that Moyo said Nelson is sabotaging him. This has to do with the management and they must come clear on the issue,” said an inside source.
