Chiefs coach confirms Ngcobo was omitted over ‘incident’
Chiefs interim coach Arthur Zwane has revealed that Njabulo Ngcobo was left out of the team on Saturday in order to ‘protect’ him.
Njabulo Ngcobo in an altercation with Lee Baxter. Photo: Twitter
Njabulo Ngcobo has taken full responsibility for his actions after an altercation on Wednesday night during Chiefs’ PSL game against Arrows.
Ngcobo was clearly upset after he was substituted against Golden Arrows on Wednesday, with his mistake having led to a key goal for the opposition. In the footage (as you can see below), it shows the Amakhosi defender ignoring Arthur Zwane as he left the field, before goalkeeper coach Lee Baxterstepped in to seemingly question his behaviour.
Ngcobo reacted angrily to Baxter grabbing his shirt, but the incident appeared to divide opinion on social media, with some suggesting Ngcobo’s response was unacceptable. However, others felt it was a forgivable reaction to the disappointment of being substituted prematurely, while questioning why Baxter became involved.
With Chiefs slipping to another disappointing defeat on Saturday, Zwane was asked about Ngcobo’s absence.
“He’s not in the team because of the incident. We’re trying to protect him. He’s a footballer and you could see, even when he was substituted he was not himself,” Zwane commented as quoted by iDiski Times.
“He made about four to five mistakes, starting from first half and second half unfortunately one of those mistakes was very, very costly and you could see he couldn’t recover from it. So I had to pull him out and save him because I’ve been there before.
“Unfortunately people saw it in a different way. He was very upset with himself because he believes he can do better.
“He knows he came to a club where there is pressure, he also wanted to showcase his talent and perform on the day. Unfortunately it was not his day.”
NGCOBO ISSUED THE FOLLOWING APOLOGY
“I would like to sincerely apologise to coach Arthur Zwane, coach Dillon Sheppard, coach Lee Baxter, my teammates, Kaizer Chiefs management and all Amakhosi supporters for not shaking the coach’s hand and for the outburst that followed after being taken off. I take full responsibility for my actions and such should not be repeated,” Ngcobo said on the Chiefs website.
“I am not proud of what I did,” adds Ngcobo. “It was a heat of the moment thing because I made some costly mistakes during the match and it’s not nice knowing that you’ve let the team down as a player, but that does not justify any of my actions. I promise to do better in the future.”
