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LEAD US BACK TO AFRICA, SWALLOWS TELL CALEB

30/12/2022 09:12:00 Nimrod Hlophe

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MBABANE – Lead us to the promised land.

Capital city giants Mbabane Swallows have unveiled and mandated former Ezulwini United coach Caleb Ngwenya to catapult them to Confederation of Africa (CAF) tournaments despite pending contractual issues between Siyabonga Bhembe and the club President Bishop Bheki Lukhele. The former Birds assistant coach had his contract terminated last week on accusations of poor performance. Swallows Governor Sebenele Nhlengetfwa ended the speculation regarding the changes at the side after unveiling Ngwenya during a press briefing at the team’s offices in Mbabane yesterday. Indeed, Ngwenya is coming on board alongside former Nsingizini Hotspurs physical trainer Siza ‘King Pele’ Dlamini, with a mandate to take the team to Africa.

“We believe that these men will help us attain our dream to bounce back to the CAF continental tournaments. We, as the Managing Committee, will fully support them to fulfil this dream,” the governor said briefly. The CAF dream requires that Swallows either wins the league or snatch one of the knockout tournaments, still to be played, that will give them a ticket back into the continent. They last played it in 2017 where they crashed out in the group stages of CAF Champions league.

The technical bench was further reshuffled, with former head coach Musa Manyatsi assuming the duties of the assistant coach. ‘King Pele’, on the other hand, assumed the duties of a physical trainer, while Max Ramalho is his assistant. It has been alleged that Ngwenya joined Birds on a two-year renewable contract while no information was available about contractual deal of Dlamini.

Ngwenya said he was elated to join Swallows and thanked them for spotting him as a rightful candidate, citing a friendly welcoming environment.
‘We’d like to take it from where the team is and contribute to the growth from now going forward. Swallows is a big team and I’m comfortable with the technical bench,” Ngwenya said.

Meanwhile, Dlamini said his motivation to reunite with his former team was that they were an ambitious team like Nsingizini. He said he liked working under pressure where his input was needed. The revamped technical team face Manzini Wanderers on its first game on January 7 in the MTN premier league.