Round Two: Rautmann Responds to Mammila’s Remarks

Veteran football coach Walter Rautmann has hit back at former Chippa United mentor Morgan Mammila for his comments in a recent interview with PSLSA.

Mammila led the Chilli Boys in 14 DStv Premiership matches, winning five, drawn four and lost five. Of the five wins, four were in back-to-back, after he replaced Daine Klate in the hot seat in September.

Responding to remarks attributed to Rautmann that he was taking chances as a coach, Mammila suggested that the well-travelled mentor should keep quiet for only people who have won league and trophies to talk.

At the time, Mammila was confident that he was competing for the top eight with the Eastern Cape outfit. However, he has since been relieved of his coaching duties at the Gqeberha-based side with the team sitting just above relegation zone on the DStv Premiership table.

Rautmann has now hit back at the former Chippa United coach, saying, “Remember he attacked me in Laduma? He said I’m a relegation coach and all this rubbish. I said it and I will say it again, you can’t coach a top team without having a licence. Why must people like Gavin Hunt or me, Benni McCarthy and so on, go and make coaching licences? It’s been for years now, and the coach comes, an ex-policeman coming to coach a Premiership team and say these things, I mean it’s ridiculous.”

The experienced mentor further added, “You know, if Black Leopards can call you tomorrow to coach the team, you might be lucky and win the first three games because the players are still used to the previous coach and still playing the same system. So, it’s not all because of Mammila that the team won those games, the previous coach prepared the team. So, because he won three games, he thought he was Pep Guardiola and thought he could coach Manchester City. Yes, you can be lucky for a few games in football, but you will be found out in the long run because you cannot coach without a coaching licence.”

Rautmann then offered Mammila some advice, saying, “They teach you there what coaching is all about. Maybe we don’t need drivers’ licences too to drive cars if that’s the case. It’s nonsense. The team is now fighting against relegation. You can send him (Mammila) a message and tell him I say if he still wants to coach Chippa I can give him advice on how to escape relegation. He doesn’t have to pay me, I can give him free advice on how to save a team from relegation because I did that with all the teams I coached in South Africa.”