Benni McCarthy has aimed a brutal dig at former club AmaZulu, where he worked before joining Manchester United’s coaching team at the start of last season. The former Blackburn Rovers striker has been impressing Erik ten Hag behind the scenes in his role at Old Trafford after being headhunted by the Dutchman shortly after the latter’s arrival.
McCarthy previously worked as the head coach of South African side AmaZulu, who he led to a second-placed league finish at the end of his first season in charge. He went on to lead AmaZulu to the group stages of the CAF Champions League before he was relieved of his duties just four months before joining United’s backroom staff.
The 45-year-old has since aimed a thinly-veiled dig at his former employers by suggesting they have gone backwards in his absence, telling 947 Joburg: “I wish [AmaZulu] all the very best. Look at where I am now, I’ve got to be grateful for them because me leaving there has given me time to be at home.
“Then get the opportunity to go and be a first-team coach at Man Utd, and AmaZulu are back to where they were when I walked through the door.”
McCarthy is no stranger to having a pop at his former employers, insisting earlier this year that he was sacked by Amazulu and Cape Town City because his own high profile was overshadowing the clubs in question.
“I was sad,” he told Idiski Times when quizzed on why he left both teams. “I was sad from disappointment because I didn’t expect when you have the kind of success that I had with the clubs that I’ve worked with, for them to then take the route of making you unemployed and firing you because they couldn’t deal with the success you were bringing to the clubs.
“But also, they couldn’t deal with the popularity that was growing, what my name meant to our people, so they couldn’t deal with that. And then they felt the best way is to get someone that’s not as big as I was and yeah, that makes me sad because I couldn’t understand what direction South Africa is going.
“When you have success, and you get fired for being successful, or doing what not many coaches in their career have done… that was what I couldn’t stomach.”
Want the latest Premier League news as we publish it on Express Sport? Join our Facebook group by clicking here.
