Fam changes tune on Gerald Phiri, hires expatriate coach
A week after unveiling Gerald Phiri Senior as the Malawi National Football Team Coach, the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has u-turned again.
Fam President Walter Nyamilandu over the weekend insisted that an expatriate coach for the Flames will jet in this week.
Nyamilandu’s latest position contradicts what Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda told the press on Wednesday that Phiri and Derklerk Msakakuona were hired on a one-year contract as Head Coach and Assistant Coach, respectively.
Nyamilandu, who did not reveal the identity of the expatriate, added that Phiri and Msakakuona will be the first and second assistant coaches, respectively.
“We indicated that we will recruit an expatriate coach and now I can confirm to you that the coach will arrive this week. I don’t want to talk much. Let us wait until he arrives,” he said.
Nyamilandu, who did not attend the unveiling ceremony of Phiri and Msakakuona at Mpira Village, changed tune that the two local coaches were hired as assistant coaches.
“We expect him on Thursday and he will go straight into camp to start drilling the boys. We have agreed a long-term contract with him and he is coming for good. Actually, we will disclose more details during a press conference,” he added.
Fam is insisting on hiring an expatriate coach despite the government saying it cannot afford him.
Nyamilandu did not say where money for the expatriate coach will come from. Most expatriate coaches demand salaries in the range of $10,000 (K7.1 million) to $50,000 (K36 million)
Earlier, Fam announced that it would, using Fifa’s funding, hire a Director of Football. That time, the association had announced that it was withdrawing the Flames from the African Nations Championship (Chan) and Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
However, the association changed goal posts again that the Flames would still take part in the qualifiers under the stewardship of an expatriate, only to unveil Phiri.
Several high profile expatriate coaches such as Portuguese Paulo Duarte, Bobby Williamson (Scot), Honour Janza of Zambia, Zimbabweans Calisto Pasuwa and Bruce Globbelaar applied for the Flames’ job.
Pasuwa, who took Zimbabwe to the finals of the 2012 Chan and 2017 Afcon, parted ways with the Warriors recently.
Pasuwa’s Manager, Gibson Mahachi, on Sunday insisted that his client was still keeping fingers crossed on the prospect of coaching the Flames.
“A few weeks ago, they [Fam] asked for some details for the coach and we submitted to them, so we are still waiting to hear from them,” Mahachi said in a telephone interview from Harare.
The Flames will travel to Madagascar on April 22 for the first leg of the Chan preliminary round qualifier, before switching to the 2019 Afcon assignments for Group B in June.
Malawi, who will stop over in Kenya for a friendly on April 18, regrouped for training at Mpira Village in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre on Sunday.
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