A battle is set to ensue between Silver Strikers and coach Pieter de Jongh after the Dutchman accused the club of breach of contract.
The Dutchman, who still has one year contract with Silver, has written to the club demanding K500 million. He also accused them of failing to fulfill some of the contractual obligations.
“I did not resign at Silver. That is fake news. But I have written to them that it was not normal for me to work for the whole season without medical insurance. This is a breach of contract,” he said.
On top of that, de Jongh also accused the club of witch-hunting.
“In September, my work permit expired and they failed to renew it in good time. They have not paid for my apartment in Malawi for three months,” de Jongh said.
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In an interview Friday, Silver Chief Executive Officer Patrick Chimimba insisted that de Jongh has a running contract with the club.
“As Silver Strikers Football Club, we have not yet received any resignation letter from the Coach. We cannot be responding to social media allegations and rumours.
“For verified news, the official spokesperson for the club and our official media platforms will always provide that,” Chimimba said.
A well-placed source at Silver confided that the Dutchman has threatened to take the club to task for damaging his reputation.
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The source also said that de Jongh did not show up for the performance assessment virtual meeting which was scheduled for midweek despite several reminders.
“The board wanted to ask him some questions on his performance in the just ended season but everyone waited in vain,” the source said.
Several coaches have been linked with Silver’s job including Black Leopards coach Peter Mponda.
However, Silver and Mponda have kept a tight lid on the matter.
In his debut season, de Jongh failed to win any silverware but the club finished second in the TNM Super League with 57 points, three points behind champions FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
Silver finished as runners-up in the Castel Challenge Cup after a 4-2 loss to Bullets on post-match penalties. The game ended in a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
They were eliminated by Mafco in semifinals of the Airtel Top 8 after a 3-1 loss on post-match penalties, after 1-1 stalemate in regulation time.
