Maritzburg United have snatched coach John Maduka from cross-town rivals Royal AM.
This has been confirmed by a source close to Maduka. The Malawian-born trainer is expected to be officially unveiled by Maritzburg on Wednesday in a media conference at Harry Gwala Stadium.
Maduka's Royal departure is rather unceremonious, given the fact that he did well by guiding the team to a third place finish in the just concluded season, where they hardly had time to prepare after relocating to KZN a week before the season started having bought Bloemfontein Celtic's Premiership status.
“Maduka resigned from Royal AM on Monday. There were a lot of things that didn't make him happy. However, even if he didn't resign they were going to fire him because they want Gavin Hunt to coach that team. Now he's signed with Maritzburg [replacing Ernst Middendorp],” the informant told Sowetan.
“It's a two-year deal at Maritzburg. Royal have always wanted to get rid of all the people who were at Celtic because they want to show it's a totally new side despite having bought the Celtic status. You saw they started by getting rid of former Celtic players and people like Ditheko Mototo [who was Maduka's assistant] followed.”
Maduka and Maritzburg chairman Farook Kadodia were not reached for comment. Overall, the 51-year-old Maduka won 15 of the 34 games when he was in charge of Thwihli Thwahla with 11 draws and eight defeats.
As we reported on Tuesday, former Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt is likely to replace Maduka at Royal. However, the four-time league winner dismissed the rumour that he's joining the KZN club.
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