FAM says it can’t wait longer on coach

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it cannot afford to wait any longer for feedback from government on the recruitment of the next national football team coach.

In an interview yesterday, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said they will go ahead to advertise the post in both local and international media because they face a race against time.

“There has not been any response yet and we cannot afford to wait any longer.

“We will involve them [government] in the recruitment process and then take it up from there. In this vein, we will proceed with the advertisement process next week so that we recruit a suitable coach by June,” he said.

Before he quit Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS), former executive secretary George Jana said the council was not satisfied with the proposal which FAM submitted, saying it was not well detailed.

“They have still not indicated what else the coaches will be doing when the teams are not active. So, the plan is that we should meet them next week [last week] to collectively address that before submitting the proposal to government,” he said almost a fortnight ago.

Apparently Jana left council before the meeting was held last week.

The council’s acting executive secretary Henry Mereka yesterday confirmed that the meeting is yet to take place.

“If they [FAM] are planning to advertise, then probably they are just trying to follow the procedure,” he said.

Apart from the head coach, FAM also wants government to be responsible for the perks of two assistant coaches who will double as junior national team coaches.

The post of Flames coach fell vacant following the expiry of Belgian tactician Ronny van Geneugden’s contract early this month.

But the last coach on government’s payroll was his predecessor Ernest Mtawali.