The 'truth' about Landi
The Namibia Football Association secretary-general has denied allegations that he approached Italian Roberto Landi about a Brave Warriors coaching job.
JESSE JACKSON KAURAISA
WINDHOEK
Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretary-general Franco Cosmos and president Ranga Haikali are allegedly once again at loggerheads over Italian Roberto Landi, who is linked to an NFA coaching job.
The 65-year-old Landi is a former goalkeeper for Kaizer Chiefs and former manager of Liberian national team.
He has also held over 10 managerial positions since his first coaching job in 1992.
Speculation is rife that the NFA has approached Landi with an offer to become the next Brave Warriors coach.
The rumours follow a video on YouTube where Landi told an interviewer that he would be the next coach of the Brave Warriors.
“I believe this was just a language problem and barrier that Landi has and I am 100% sure that he did not mean it in that way,” Cosmos said.
Cosmos claims that the reports on social media and WhatsApp were the opposite to what the Italian was doing in Namibia.
“The truth is that this guy approached the NFA looking for a job to become a youth developer for the association.
“As anyone would do, I asked him for a price and he told me that it would be N$3 million per year.
“I even informed the NFA president about it and took him to meet the president.
“We all agreed that the price he was asking was too high but we could possibly negotiate something else with the Italian FA so that we could still benefit from this man's expertise,” Cosmos said.
“How in my right mind would I want to appoint someone else while we have already endorsed a caretaker coach position for the next two months?
“The fact that the position has not been advertised yet can already give you an indication that we will not appoint someone just like that.”
The NFA secretariat and the president allegedly initially agreed to consider having Landi as the mentor to the NFA technical director, provided that the Italian FA agreed to fund half of his pay.
Namibian Sun understands that the Italian's visit to Namibia has once again reignited tension among the NFA bosses.
Haikali is allegedly unhappy with the way Cosmos handled the situation and the fact that he was only informed about the presence of Landi after he had already met several other officials.
He said he feels that the NFA secretariat is pushing an agenda to change the executive's resolutions.
The secretariat was also accused of taking a decision regarding the appointment of a caretaker coach for the Brave Warriors.
The NFA president could not be reached for comment yesterday.
WINDHOEK
Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretary-general Franco Cosmos and president Ranga Haikali are allegedly once again at loggerheads over Italian Roberto Landi, who is linked to an NFA coaching job.
The 65-year-old Landi is a former goalkeeper for Kaizer Chiefs and former manager of Liberian national team.
He has also held over 10 managerial positions since his first coaching job in 1992.
Speculation is rife that the NFA has approached Landi with an offer to become the next Brave Warriors coach.
The rumours follow a video on YouTube where Landi told an interviewer that he would be the next coach of the Brave Warriors.
“I believe this was just a language problem and barrier that Landi has and I am 100% sure that he did not mean it in that way,” Cosmos said.
Cosmos claims that the reports on social media and WhatsApp were the opposite to what the Italian was doing in Namibia.
“The truth is that this guy approached the NFA looking for a job to become a youth developer for the association.
“As anyone would do, I asked him for a price and he told me that it would be N$3 million per year.
“I even informed the NFA president about it and took him to meet the president.
“We all agreed that the price he was asking was too high but we could possibly negotiate something else with the Italian FA so that we could still benefit from this man's expertise,” Cosmos said.
“How in my right mind would I want to appoint someone else while we have already endorsed a caretaker coach position for the next two months?
“The fact that the position has not been advertised yet can already give you an indication that we will not appoint someone just like that.”
The NFA secretariat and the president allegedly initially agreed to consider having Landi as the mentor to the NFA technical director, provided that the Italian FA agreed to fund half of his pay.
Namibian Sun understands that the Italian's visit to Namibia has once again reignited tension among the NFA bosses.
Haikali is allegedly unhappy with the way Cosmos handled the situation and the fact that he was only informed about the presence of Landi after he had already met several other officials.
He said he feels that the NFA secretariat is pushing an agenda to change the executive's resolutions.
The secretariat was also accused of taking a decision regarding the appointment of a caretaker coach for the Brave Warriors.
The NFA president could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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