Former Ghana defender John Pantsil has revealed that there was a calculated attempt by some unknown hands at Kaizer Chiefs to kick him out of the club following his appointment as the assistant to Steve Komphela.
The former West Ham United and Leicester City right back says he never felt at home while working as the deputy of Komphela at the Amakhosi.
Pantsil believes that some unknown hands in the club conspired with the media to frustrate him at the club and to make him unpopular.
To him, people wanted him out of the club because he was not a South African and a former Kaizer Chiefs player.
“When I joined Kaizer Chiefs, I never felt welcomed at the club. The leadership had a fantastic relationship with me but the fans and the media didn’t like me,” John spoke to GHANAsoccernet.com in an exclusive interview.
“Kaizer Chiefs is a big club and they felt there were a lot of ex-players of the club in South Africa so why go for an ‘outsider’.
“But I was concentrating on my job because I was determined to do something.
“However, it was becoming too much. The media starting chasing me with a lot of negative stories and I felt my image was at stake,” he narrated.
The experienced Ghanaian who had stints with Fulham and Hapeol Tel Aviv revealed that the media deliberately concocted stories about him to make him unpopular and to get him sacked.
“First it was me not paying my rent, when in actual fact I don’t even pay rent. The club does everything.
“Then later on another story came that I have taken money from a lady. An amount which was not even up to GHC 300 (equivalent to $70), which was hugely embarrassing and frustrating.
“So I had to leave. The leadership of the club and the coach were all not happy but I had to leave,” he added.
Paintsil was appointed as the assistant coach to Steve Komphela few days after announcing his retirement from active play in 2016 but called for a mutual termination of the contract a year later.
By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheiukh1 on twitter