Kavazovic resists SA interest to stay at Rollers
BONGANI MALUNGA
Township Rollers president Jagdish Shah has officially declared that head coach Nikola Kavazovic will stay at the club for the forthcoming season. Kavazovic is entering the final year of his two year contract and had attracted a lot of interest from across the border.
Kaizer Chiefs (who are still searching for a new coach) and Black Leopards were strongly linked with the Serbian coach during the off season. He became the first coach to lead Rollers to the group stage of the CAF Champions League and also won the league and cup double this past season, a feat that had not been achieved since BDF XI’s achievement in 2004. His exploits saw him mentioned by reliable South African publications such as Soccer Laduma and Sowetan as one of those shortlisted for the coveted Kaizer Chiefs post,
“We have always said that Nikola Kavazovic is staying with the club for another season, we made that announcement a while ago. He has a two year contract and he will see out the final year of his contract. He is definitely staying at Rollers,” Shah stated in a brief interview with Gazette Sport on Sunday.
The coach has never hidden his desire to explore a new challenge beyond his Rollers tenure but many within the club feared that he might leave the club to coach in the PSL sooner than expected. The Rollers coach even went to the extent of ruling himself out of the Kaizer Chiefs job via his Twitter account after growing tired of the speculation.
“I feel (a) moral duty to say BIG THANKS to all Kaizer Chiefs fans who wrote me and wanted me there. I am shocked by (the) number of people, didn’t expect that. Guess it was not the right moment but it will come for sure. Thank you very much once again & see you in future. God bless you all,” stated on his Twitter account.
Kavazovic and his players made pre-season preparations last month since the club will resume its CAF Champions League adventure in July. In his own words, Kavazovic once stated that he would like to remain at Rollers as long as Jagdish wants him to do so, it seems the feeling is mutual as he is set for another season at the helm.