Maritzburg United chairman Farook Kadodia has defended his decision to sell stars Fortune Makaringe and Siphesihle Ndlovu.
The pair were on Monday officially unveiled by Orlando Pirates, leaving the Team of Choice with the unenviable task of having to fill the big gaps vacated by their midfield dynamos.
However, Kadodia says it is easy for fans and the general public to criticise without understanding the dynamics of the club. United have already moved to replace the twin departures by bringing in the versatile Kwanda Mngonyama as well as Phumlani Ntshangase.
Keegan Buchanan is also fit again after spending the entire 2018/19 campaign on the sidelines due to injury. More like replacements for Makaringe and Ndlovu are expected in the coming weeks as the pre-season gains momentum.
Kadodia was criticised last season for not properly replacing Lebohang Maboe, who joined Mamelodi Sundowns. Kadodia explained how Davids was confident enough to build his team around Yannick Zakri, using young players around the Ivory Coast man, who was last week released by Maritzburg.
However, the United chairman admitted that the move failed, but reiterated that he backed his former coach one hundred percent by reinvesting the money from the Maboe sale into a money-spinning move for Zakri.
The Maritzburg chairman spoke about how he put his full faith in Davids, a man that will go down as one of the best coaches in the club’s history, but the plan did not work out for both.
The Team of Choice eventually fell to the bottom of the table, before they decided to part ways with Davids six months ago.
However, under the guardianship of Eric Tinkler they managed to survive via the play-offs.
Kadodia says the players that did so well under Davids would not have had their reputations enhanced had it not been for his former coach. – Thahir Asmal
