FILLEMON ‘Ronnie’ Kanalelo on Wednesday vacated his Unam FC head coach role in favour of a return to the South African Premiership with Maritzburg United as goalkeeping coach.
Unam confirmed Kanalelo’s departure on Thursday, adding that his assistant James Britz would temporarily assume the reigns while the club “search for a quality coach”.
Kanalelo, who still had a year to go on his Unam deal, returns to Maritzburg for a third spell, with his last stint ending in 2013 when he accepted the Brave Warriors first assistant coach post, which he still retains.
His role at Maritzburg runs until May 2019.
Nicknamed ‘The Magnet’ during his playing days, Kanalelo joined Unam during the 2015-16 season, and was tasked with assembling a youthful, competitive team which ended as the fourth best team in the NPL last term, as well as losing FA Cup finalists.
“Our hope was that coach Ronnie would stay with the team for the duration of his contract, and continue to build a winning tradition for Unam Football Club. Unfortunately, he has requested that he be relieved early to pursue another career opportunity. We have granted that request,” Unam club chairman Frednard Gideon said in a statement.
“He injected energy, he went about his job the right way, and most importantly, he produced results. Therefore, Unam Football Club would like to thank coach Ronnie for all the contributions he made to our team’s success.
In Britz, the club trust that he can hold the fort while a substantive mentor is being found.
“I am confident that we will have a new coach in place shortly who will build upon that foundation, and carry us to even greater success. Our search for a quality coach who can lead us to continued success has already begun,” added Gideon.
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