Chippa reportedly sack Vilakazi with three league games remaining

Beleaguered Chippa United have reportedly sacked head coach Vusi Vilakazi with three matches remaining until the end of the season in two weeks’ time. His assistant coach Hlanga Dikeni is expected to be in the dugout on an interim basis for the club‘s next game against TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday. He will be the sixth caretaker/permanent mentor to take charge of the club since the season started in August.

The list of his predecessors includes Vilakazi, who joined the club in October, Sinethemba Badela, Luc Eymael and Morgan Mammila alongside Musa Nyatama. The apparent decision to relieve Vilakazi of his duties was taken after the club’s 3-1 loss to Sekhukhune United at the Buffalo City Stadium on Wednesday. That loss put Chippa under intensified pressure in the relegation zone.

They are in 13th place with 24 points. Behind them are Orbit College (23), Marumo Gallants (22) and Magesi (21), who occupy the last two spots for relegation. I think we only need six points in the games that are left for us to be safe.

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We can still fight and win against Galaxy and then play home Arrows and win against others, and they will make things easier for us A SABC report suggested Vilakazi was told to say goodbye to the players soon after the Sekhukhune game by the club’s top brass. Attempts to get a comment from the club’s chair Siviwe Mpengesi were unsuccessful. In his last press conference on Wednesday, Vilakazi said his players should “wake up and smell the coffee” as either relegation or being in the playoffs would not be a good pill to swallow.

After the game he said they desperately needed to secure six points in their three remaining games to avoid the drop zone. The lone Eastern Cape team in the Betway Premiership meet TS Galaxy in Mbombela Stadium on Saturday (3pm), Golden Arrows in Gqeberha next Saturday and Kaizer Chiefs in Durban (May 23) for their remaining games.

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