Valinhos quits Free State Stars

The Brazilian mentor, who was sacked by Zimbabwe in December last year after his failure to lead the Warriors to the finals of both the 2010 African Nations Cup to be hosted by Angola and the World Cup in South Africa, had signed a two-year contract with the club a development that had seen former head coach Themba Sithole being relegated to assistant coach and led former Zimbabwe Warriors striker Ian Gorowa to quit in unceremonious circumstances.

Gorowa, a former Black Rhinos and Dynamos striker, had been Sitholes assistant before Valinhos sudden arrival but the two coaches, who took over from Steve Komphela at the beginning of this season in August, had found the going tough early on in the league.

However, after leading the team in two matches a 1-1 draw with Mpumalanga Black Aces and a 0-1 loss to champions Supersport United — the 62-year-old mentor quit the club and flew back to his native Brazil in a huff, citing interference from management.

Valinhos claimed that some people within the Ea Lla Koto set-up wanted to force him to accept the role of technical director, while his contract stipulated that he was to be head coach.

Some people within the Stars set up are said to have tried to force their favourite players into the starting line-up, something that did not go down well with the former Warriors coach, who wanted overall control of team selection.

Club director Rantsi Mokoena has since re-instated Sithole to his old job and also announced the appointment of another Brazilian Milton Nienov to assist Sithole for the remainder of the season.

Valinhos is gone and we have a new technical team that we expect to see us through this season, was all Mokoena would say to The Zimbabwean On Sunday.