Micium Mhone, coach fallout
Axed Blue Eagles captain Micium Mhone has expressed his discontent with coach Gerald Phiri snr over players treatment, accusing him of favouritism.
The stinging attack comes ahead of today’s crucial game against defending champions Nyasa Big Bullets slated for Nankhaka Stadium in Lilongwe.
Mhone, who was recently stripped off the captaincy, claimed that Phiri made attacking sentiments right from his first address after arriving at the club.
“If the coach’s attitude towards some of the players at the club does not change then the team should brace for calamity. Some might think it is only me but there are other players who are also not in good books with the coach like…[names withheld],” he said.
“Imagine his first sentiments when he arrived at the club he said and I quote ‘some of you think you own this team I have come to end that and I can bring in other players’. He forgot that it is the same players that made the team.”
Mhone said he was not bitter having lost the arm-band but said he wanted players to be treated fairly and equally.
The Malawi National Football Team winger said Eagles were doing well before Phiri took over the mantle.
“Let me make this clear here when he joined us [Eagles] we had already won two cups in the previous season. He, [Phiri] was hired because our head coach then De Klerk Msakakuona had picked up a job with Football Association of Malawi to head the Under-17 coaching panel. We were not struggling but U-17 National team,” he said.
However, Phiri did not respond to our question when asked for a comment.
Eagles Chairperson Alexander Ngwala dismissed the reports, saying that players were not being ill-treated by the coach.
Peter Fote is a Sports Journalist with huge experience in radio and Television reporting, production and presentation. He once worked with Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and is currently working for Times Media Group.
