De Sa confirmed as new Maritzburg United coach
Maritzburg United have confirmed Roger de Sa as their new coach – filling the void left by Ernst Middendorp’s resignation last year.
De Sa joins the club fresh off a break after he was sacked by Ajax Cape Town late last year. He was linked to the still-vacant Bafana Bafana coaching job while then-coach Shakes Mashaba’s position was on the line.
However, De Sa says he was never in line for the national coaching job.
“It’s not true, I’ve never spoken to SAFA and they’ve never spoken to me. Often when I open the newspaper, my wife and I would read my life story and I didn’t know anything about it,” De Sa joked.
“You guys seem to know more than us sometimes. When I first resigned from Ajax, a couple of week later Farook Kadodia spoke to me. I told him I was having a bit of a holiday, I haven’t had one for the last 30 years so I needed a proper break.”
“Fortunately, Fadlu did a great job which made our decision to delay the announcement until January easier and I had a few commitments to uphold as well.”
De Sa will pick up where caretaker coach Fadlu Davids has left off when the Absa Premiership continues next month.
Maritzburg United chairman Farook Kadodia says he’d been interested in De Sa for the role ever since Team of Choice were initially promoted to the South African top flight.
“It took us time but when the opportunity arose after Ernst resigned, Roger was available and we engaged in some serious talks as far as the club’s future and his vision for the club and we needed to cement that together,” Kadodia said.
“Everyone expected us to appoint a coach within of 14 days of the departure of Ernst. We felt that wasn’t the right thing, we have the technical team under the guidance of Fadlu Davids that could steady the ship.”
Kadodia believes that De Sa has the right managerial skills to take the club forward – sighting that as a shortcoming in seasons past.