Celebrations should ring across the yellow and black half of Naturena following the news that Ernst Middendorp has been sacked by Kaizer Chiefs.
The Amakhosi consistently underachieved under Middendorp during his one-and-a-half season with the team, but they were especially poor in the PSL bio bubble.
The end of Middendorp era was punctuated by his failure to deliver the 2019/20 Absa Premiership title despite leading Amakhosi in pole position for all of 28 rounds.
Chiefs lost the grip of the trophy on the last day of the season following their one-all draw against Baroka that enabled Mamelodi Sundowns to be crowned champions after beating Black Leopards.
Kaizer Chiefs announced Middendorp’s departure on Wednesday afternoon with the club chairman Kaizer Motaung explaining the board’s decision.
“We deliberated and considered many aspects related to the team, including our way of playing, our performances and the results before coming to the decision,” Motaung told the club website.
“We truly believed and hoped that our 50th anniversary year would be better, and it indeed looked promising. The decision taken is part of a strategy to have the team win trophies again and to make our supporters happy because they deserve better.”
The German gaffer joined Chiefs in December 2018 for his second stint and steered the side to ninth position Absa Premiership table and reached the Nedbank Cup final.
“After giving the coach and the technical team the ammunition required to compete in the new season,” Motaung adds. “There were some improvements, and this was evident during the first seven months of this 2019/2020 season.
“However, when the league restarted post-lockdown, things changed, and we looked a totally different side in our last eight league matches. We witnessed some heart-stopping performances and we were overtaken on the log in the last game of the season, which truly broke our hearts. We have to take responsibility – we can’t wait and allow this situation to continue.”
Middendorp managed 31 wins, 12 draws and 17 losses in all competitions, with no silverware obtained.
The club has yet to say who will take over the manager’s chair on an interim basis, but the chairman has promised a new coach will be hired before the start of coming season.
“We will announce the new coach before the team returns for pre-season training,” Motaung concluded.
