By Chisomo Phiri

Silver Strikers Football Club has on Friday fired head coach Pieter De Jongh just a year into his two year deal with the Central Bankers.

In a statement,the club said, the decision to part ways with the Dutch coach was made after a thorough evaluation of the team’s performance against set targets and obligations.

“While we appreciate the efforts and dedication, Mr. De Jongh has shown during his tenure with the club, the decision to part ways has been made in the best interest of the club’s future objectives and aspirations,”reads the statement from the Central Bankers.

The club added that a new coach will be identified very soon to replace De Jongh.

“Silver Strikers Football Club is committed to building a competitive team and will soon begin the process of selecting a new Head Coach.

“The search for a suitable candidate will be conducted with utmost care and consideration to ensure that the club continues to progress and achieve its set goals,”adds the club’s statement.

The self acclaimed “champ” joined the Area 47-based side at the start of the 2023 season in which he was given a target of winning the league and at least one of the three cups played in the just ended season.

Despite starting well, Silver failed to beat Bullets to the league title and also failed to win any of the three cups that were won by Kalisto Pasuwa’s charges in their first ever quadruple success.

He was summoned to a hearing in which he did not show up as he was still in Kenya for his holiday.

During his one year stay with the club, the ‘Champ’ was never short of controversies as he was, on several occasions, received marching orders from referees, exchanged words with opposite technical members, took a swipe at his own board and wasted much of his time fighting Bullets.

He also blamed the team’s failure to win any silverware on Chimwemwe Idana’s absence in seven games due to contract dispute and ended up blaming the board for not signing the players he requested.