The ball is in the hands of Josef Zinnbauer if he wants to replace the departed Rhulani Mokwena at Orlando Pirates.
That is according to the club’s administrative manager, Floyd Mbele.
Mokwena vacated his position as an assistant coach at Pirates and took over the coaching reins at Chippa United. He replaced Norman Mapeza who resigned on Monday as the head coach of the club.
In an interview with Independent Media, Mbele was mum when he asked if Pirates will replace Mokwena or not.
“We haven’t even reached that thought. Rhulani has left us and is at Chippa and the club released a statement about his departure,” Mbele said.
Zinnbauer is currently working with Fadlu Davids who is acting as his second in command at Pirates. They have done well together.
“The technical team will give us (an) indication if they want to beef up the technical team or not,” Mbele said.
Pirates have done well under the tenure of Zinnabuer. They are now third on the PSL standings and are mathematically still in the title race.
The Buccaneers have been transformed. They are rejuvenated and resurgent under the German. The Sea Robbers are playing with tenacity and verve. That is something that was missing after the departure of Milutin Sredojevic who jumped the ship to join Egyptian giants Zamalek at the start of the season. Mokwena took over, but struggled to make an impact until he was removed as interim coach.
Mokwena took leave after the club announced the arrival of Zinnbauer in December.
He took a journey overseas where he enhanced his football knowledge. Upon his return to South Africa, he worked his team that is campaigning in the ABC Motsepe League until he was appointed as the head coach of the Chilli Boys yesterday.
Chippa are 11th in the league with 25 points. They are not out of the relegation zone. Two victories in their next two encounters under the tutelage of the former Mamelodi Sundowns assistant coach will give them breathing space.
Only five points separates Chippa from bottom club AmaZulu. Chippa face Wits and Cape Town City in their next two fixtures. They will head into those clashes oozing with confidence having beaten Usuthu in their previous encounter.