By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Diamond Stars coach, Francis Zappa Koroma, shockingly announced his resignation as head coach on Sunday, leaving the club scrambling to replace him ahead of their match on Thursday against FC Johansen.
Assistant Coach, Aiah Lebbie, will temporarily take charge of the team for their match against FC Johansen.
In a letter addressed to the executive members of the club, Zappa said he felt betrayed by members of the executive committee who did not come to his rescue amidst a growing pressure from fans for a title push.
“My main reason for resigning is that when fans were calling for my head and all the criticisms were made about me, no member of the executive came to rescue me on air or social media by saying they told me to build a team for a certain period and being in the first four position will be the best for the season,” the letter stated
He added: “instead they are rather putting me under serious pressure to win the league, which I saw as a sabotage and betrayal.”
Zappa’s letter complained about the tampering of his team with the addition of young and inexperienced players, when he was away on international duty.
According to the letter, the executive told him that they took decision behind his back so he could build a youthful team in the next couple of seasons.
The Public Relations Officer of the club, Tamba Senesie, told Politico in an interview that Zappa’s comment about betrayal was not true. He said they had defended the coach several times.
“Betrayal is a relative term. We have defended Zappa not once or twice but, on several occasions. So his comments about betrayal is not true,” Senessie said.
“We have given him a job and gave him a free hand to operate how he wants. After the Lions game, we called him to a meeting and reminded him about the promise of winning the league or taking us to the top four,” Senessie added.
Senessie said Zappa’s decision was a way of “scapegoating” the executive for his failures.
“We then gave him three games to turn things around. He drew the first game against Kamboi Eagles. So, if he has now resigned it shows he couldn’t have won the remaining two games. Instead he wants to use us as a scapegoat.”
Diamond Stars have struggled this season to put together a run of wins. The team is currently 9th in the league with just 11 points after ten games.
The team has just won two games this season, drawing five and losing three in a checkered run.
The team are already thinking about a permanent replacement. Senessie said they are in talks with former coach, Lamin Bangura to take over the team.
“We have approached Lamin Bangura, our former coach who won the league with us. But we haven’t agreed personal terms yet,” he said.
Bangura was the coach of Guinean side, AS Kaldoun, until he was sacked early this season.
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