Phiri hits out at RVG

Former Flames assistant  coach Gerald Phiri claims his mentor Ronny van Geneugden (RVG) dropped him out of personal hatred.

Phiri also dismissed claims by the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) that he has been assigned other duties in the technical director’s office.

RVG told The Nation on Sunday that Phiri has not been retained because he wanted to give other coaches a chance as part of his mentorship programme.

But yesterday Phiri said: “He [RVG] is not saying the truth and he knows it. The truth of the matter is that he has personal hatred against me. It has nothing to do with performance or whatsoever.

“I do not know how it all started, but I suspect some people within the technical set-up told him lies about me and he took it as gospel truth.”

The former Be Forward Wanderers, Nyasa Big Bullets and Azam Tigers coach also said he believes the reshuffle of the technical panels was done specifically to get rid of him.

“What makes me sad is that he is even implicating my son [Gerald Jnr] in all this. I have been reliably informed by a member of [FAM] technical subcommittee that when the coach was asked why he did not want to work with me, he told them that I was misleading my son by telling him not to honour national team call-ups.

“So, my plea to him is that he should not involve my son in all this. ‘Papa’ [Gerald Jnr] has nothing to do with all this,” he said.

Phiri also hit out at FAM for not hearing his side of the story.

“It is very unfortunate that the whole FAM continues to make the same mistakes over and over again.

“It was the case with [former Flames coach Ernest Mtawali]. Some members within his backroom staff made some serious allegations against him, but FAM never called him for his side of the story and by the time they established the truth, it was too late. You expect an organisation like FAM to act professionally, but they don’t.”

Phiri also said he has been trying to meet FAM leadership, including the president, to present his concerns, but he was not given a chance.

“And now they are saying I have been assigned other duties…what duties?” he asked.

However, RVG yesterday maintained that Phiri was dropped because he [RVG] wanted to give other coaches a chance and he heard that FAM had assigned him  [Phiri]other duties.

“It was agreed with FAM when I was offered this job to train as many coaches as possible to prepare them for the future.

“It is unfortunate that Gerald is saying I hate him. Why should I hate him? I have now included Patrick [Mabedi], Meke Mwase,  [Lovemore] Fazili and Temwa Msuku as part of that programme…it is because I have noted their potential. It is an ongoing exercise.”

And commenting on Phiri’s claims that he is implicating Gerald Jnr because of the issues he has with his father, RVG said: “I am a professional, there is no way I can do that. Gerald Jnr is one of the key players and to allude to that point, I persuaded his [South African] club Bidvest Wits to release him for the friendly match against Lesotho when his father had instructed him not to come. It is him [Gerald Snr] who should not involve Junior in all this.”

FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said: “It is part of life and he [Gerald Snr] has to stay focused. At least he is assured of a job.”

Soccer analyst George Kaudza-Masina said the problem emanates from FAM’s tendency to impose backroom staff on head coaches.

“As long as FAM keeps on imposing backroom staff on the head coach, this problem will never end. It has been the trend for sometime now,” he said. n