100% NO INTERFERENCE FOR KOSTADIN PAPIC!

MBABANE – Stay out of his way and let him do the job independently and all will be well. As Serbian coach Kostadin Papic looks to resume his duties as Eswatini football national team Sihlangu coach this weekend by watching the players in the Ingwenyama Cup Last 16 games, his employers, the Eswatini National Football Association (ENFA), need to know this about the much travelled coach – he wants full charge of his teams.

Papic does not want the slightest of interference in his coaching task – history shows that he has quit some clubs even when the results were very much in his favour. And interference pops up in most of the times he has quit clubs through resignation.

It is an open secret that interference has been reported by local media before in the senior national team and does take place. In some of his resignations, it would appear it was to avoid being sacked as results were not forthcoming. He has done this in Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa while Sihlangu is his first national team job ever and he has one year to prove his worth before a renewal is considered.

Research has shown that Papic has coached at least 15 clubs across Africa, South Africa’s giants Orlando Pirates in 2004 to 2006, Kaizer Chiefs in 2007 and Hearts of Oak of Ghana in 2008 to 2009. He resigned from all these clubs.

He also resigned from clubs like South Africa’s Polokwane City in 2015, Chippa United in 2014 saying ‘boardroom politics made him resign’. At Pirates, he resigned because he had promised to do so if he did not deliver the ABSA Premiership trophy and when he did not, he stuck by the promise while he walked away from Chiefs without an official resignation.

With Hearts of Oak, it was strange because his team was 10 points clear in the league log and seven games away from clinching the title but he still quit on mutual consent with the management after what he termed managerial interference.

Stunned

He also stunned Young Africans who he coached from 2009 to 2011. He announced his intention to quit in 2010 but made a quick U-turn in his decision. A year later, though, despite attempts by Young Africans to block his exit, he resigned and left the club and the media there reported that he was clearly unhappy with management. South Africa’s SoccerLaduma even did a timeline of his coaching career and minced no words that he was not one to take any form of interference as well as a timeline of how he left some of the clubs which will be demonstrated along with his previous clubs. The SoccerLaduma article was nicely titled ‘Papic Hardly Sacked, Almost Always Resigned’.

“My job belongs to me and only me,” he responded when asked about this. No immediate comment could be obtained from the ENFA which is still expecting Papic’s arrival. They had said he would resume work on January 5 but by yesterday, he was still awaiting his travel papers including visa.

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