Chippa United chairman Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi has explained why the club decided to bring back Kurt Lentjies.
The former footballer was recently roped in as Morgan Mammila’s assistant coach.
It was in 2021 when Lentjies was named the caretaker coach of the Chilli Boys while he still had a contract as a player at the club.
This happened after Gavin Hunt was shown the exit door. The former Maritzburg United man went on to help the Gqeberha-based side to survive relegation last season.
But when this campaign began, the club opted to appoint Daine Klate as the head coach.
Lentjies was then offered a role as an assistant coach, but he refused. However, Klate was sacked after he had overseen just seven games.
This happened while the club and Lentjies were not on good terms. Mammila then took over and did fairly well but results haven’t been coming lately. They have failed to pick up a win in their last seven games.
Now, Mpengesi and Lentjies have buried the hatchet and the club has recalled him to help Mammila.
CHIPPA UNITED BOSS ON WHY THEY RECALLED KURT LENTJIES
“Lentjies has always [been] my child, we in football, we are forgiving people,” he told the media.
“You look at all other clubs, even big clubs in Europe you will see, Pep [Guardiola], the coach of Manchester City isn’t coming there for the first time.
“We are forgiving people, Chippa United, this is his [Kurt Lentjies] home.
“The way we handled things at the beginning of the season was not a nice way. So we sat down and we smoke a pipe of peace, he’s coming now to bring experience.
“Because the majority of these players, 90% of them were recruited by him. He understands [them]. So we don’t want to be looked like we are a confused team.
“If you bring somebody now and you fire this guy [Morgan Mammila], you’re starting all over again.
“So, I sat down with my board and we thought there was a need that Morgan was inexperienced. Let us not put a lot of pressure on him, instead let us support him.
“Because Morgan Mammila is a good story for us and [it would be] a sad day when a team would decide to fire him.
“So we said no let us support him. We spoke nicely with Kurt and here he is today, he’s got his role, you know what I mean, focusing on the specific areas.”
Mpengesi believes they haven’t had a “certain system” that’s instilled in players for them to perform consistently.
He says this is where Lentjies comes in.
WHAT LENTJIES WILL BRING
“Gone are those days where you’ll let the players just play [for themselves],”
“The teams that are doing well, it’s because they believe in a certain system. So that system then, if the players understand it very well, they respond and the team will do well.
“So we thought with what they are doing, they are lacking that [system], hence we got Kurt Lentjies back.”
RELATED STORY: Chippa United outline DStv Premiership second round targets
