WINDHOEK – Sacked African Stars mentor Robert Nauseb says he is yet to receive an official dismissal letter from the club, as he was only informed about his sacking through the phone by Stars’ chairperson Patrick Kauta on Monday evening.
Surprised by his sudden dismissal, a dismayed Nauseb yesterday informed New Era Sport that he received a phone call on Monday afternoon from Kauta, notifying him (Nauseb) that he was no longer needed at the club and that a replacement was already found to take charge of the team as of yesterday.
According to the former Brave Warriors and Kaizer Chiefs industrious midfielder, Kauta said his sacking was due to a twine of poor results and overall under performance by the team but Nauseb yesterday vehemently rejected reasons for his firing, saying Kauta’s reasons are farfetched and misanalysed.
“Under my mentorship, Stars have won two and lost two league games while we went on to record a draw away in Comoros and a win at home during their CAF Champions League preliminary qualifiers against Volcan Club de Moroni. So what poor results are we talking about? I been in charge of Stars for less than six matches now and people are pointing at poor results, I’m surprised seriously. But I have no hard feelings towards anyone as this things happen in football, it’s now up to me to move on with life,” he said.
Nauseb, who signed a two-year contract with Stars when he took over from Bobby Samaria in August, still has a year and eight months left on his contract and as customary practice, Stars will have to pay out the remaining months of contract.
“In our telephonic conversation, he (Kauta) promised that we will meet today to sort out and discuss outstanding issues as far as my sacking is concerned, so I’m still waiting to meet with him. Amongst the outstanding issues is my contract, which still has 20 months left on it and that will be top of our discussion when we meet. So as we speak I’m no longer in charge of Stars but this morning (yesterday) I went to meet the players to say thank you for supporting me during our short time together because they really gave their all for me and I’m grateful for that.”
Confirming Nauseb’s firing, Kauta told Nampa that: “We have agreed that we part ways with coach Nauseb and we have also called back Samaria to prepare the team with immediate effect. He already took charge of the training sessions. We have been conceding a lot in the four matches we played. We currently have a negative two when it comes to our goal difference, and that is not a good record for the defending champions. Also if amateurs score five goals past you, how many will the professionals score?” Kauta asked referring to Stars’ next opponents, Orlando Pirates of South Africa.
He said the club has thus recalled Coach Bobby Samaria until the end of the season. He further pointed out that they had decided to recall Samaria because he is the one who assembled the current team, hence he can quickly put to an end, what he termed as “the current rot.”
“Save for a few players, Bobby (Samaria) assembled this team. He knows the players so he can easily rally the boys and make sure we play well against Pirates,” Kauta concluded.