Thursday | September 8, 2022

When a coach receives orders on the touchline by the higher-ups in the glare of the public, spare a thought for the power-struggle shenanigans behind closed doors, it is just a matter of time the axe falls on the neck. 

The same fate befell Diane Klate when his team Chippa United FC took on the mighty Mamelodi Sundowns FC at Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday night.

The Chilli Boys succumbed 1-0 to Sundowns’ relentless onslaught in the dying minutes of the DStv Premiership League encounter.

The Brazilians had dominated almost the entire stretch of the regulation time with Chippa defending their lines stoically. Playing in front of an exuberant mass of supporters, they nearly did a perfect job to keep the defending champions at bay.

It was Peter Shalulile who foiled Klate’s masterplan on 91st minute to give Sundowns a hard-fought victory away from home territory. Last night’s goal took Shalulile’s tally to five in the 2022/2023 league edition.

That would be the goal to ring the death knell on the Chippa United head coach’s job.

As Chippa embarks on bringing in the new coach, Morgan Mammila will assume the reins.

The Chilli Boys are rooted at the bottom of the log with merely five points after seven league matches. Klate only managed to get maximum points from his shock win over Orlando Pirates FC.

From that match which saw the coach throw himself on deck with unbridled joy, things fell apart. Chippa lost four games and drew two under his watch.

True to its usual penchant for firing coaches, Diane Klate became yet another Chippa United Football Club management statistics of the coaches shown the door.