Former Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela has explained why the exit of head coach Jose Riveiro at the Soweto giants was the ‘right’ thing.
Maela recently retired from professional football after having a successful career with the Buccaneers, where he lifted five trophies as a captain.
The 32-year-old, who has been with the Pirates senior team since 2017, took a surprise decision to call time on his career to take up a role within the club’s structures.
Maela came through the Pirates development ranks, and he went out on loan to the now-defunct Thanda Royal Zulu in the Motsepe Foundation Championship to gain experience.
The left-footed defender returned to his parent club at the start of the 2017/18 season. In his eight seasons with the Sea Robbers, Maela made over 200 appearances. He scored six goals, provided 12 assists and also helped the team keep as many clean sheets.
His best spell at Pirates came under Jose Riveiro in the past three seasons, during which he won three successive MTN8 trophies and two Nedbank Cup titles.
At the end of last season, the Spanish coach opted against renewing his contract and took over the hot seat at Al Ahly. The Egyptian giants have since fired Riveiro after he had only spent three months at the helm.
WHAT MAELA SAID ABOUT JOSE RIVEIRO’S DEPARTURE AT PIRATES
Maela has given his honest take on Riveiro’s departure, stating that Pirates’ performances would have declined had the 50-year-old continued with the project.
“Coach Riveiro left; no one fired him. I think he was tired, and he felt like he had done enough for the club. He works very hard. I was close to him because of being a captain,” Maela said on Lemi Loco on Sports podcast.
“So he felt like he needed a new challenge somewhere else; he felt like he had exhausted all his energy in the team, and he succeeded. Let’s give it to him. I think he is one of the best coaches in the history of Orlando Pirates.
“You could see from his energy that now he’s tired. I personally think that if he continued, the team would have gone down instead of going up. I don’t know if it’s possible, maybe if he could take a year break and come back, so that he can regain his energy. So I don’t think staying would have been the right thing for the club.”
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