Muhsin Ertugral reveals he had 'interesting offers' after leaving Ajax Cape Town

Former Ajax Cape Town coach Muhsin Ertugral has revealed the reason he turned down coaching offers after parting ways with the Mother City-based club over a month ago.

Ertugral was at the helm of the Urban Warriors when they got relegated at the end of last season, but he stuck around in an attempt to help them return to the elite league.

However, things didn't go according to plan, and he took the decision to step aside and allow someone else to try and gain promotion back to the PSL.  

“No, I am just relaxing at the moment enjoying some time out. I didn’t want to jump into a new job immediately,” Ertugral told Goal.

“I left Ajax because I thought things were not going well for us and I thought things would be different when we started in the league,” he added.

Although the Cape Town-based club has already appointed Andries Ulderlink to revive their hopes of returning to the top tier, Ertugral said he had an emotional stint in Cape Town.

“It was really an emotional challenge, and I don’t think it would be wise to get into a new job, but there were offers and interest from a number of clubs,” he revealed.

“There were interesting offers from a number of clubs, but I decided to take a break,” he said.

Just before Kaizer Chiefs appointed Ernst Middendorp to replace Giovanni Solinas, speculation was rife that Ertugral would return to Naturena, but Amakhosi dispelled the reports.

“It’s not wise to join a team in the middle of the season, and I thought of staying away a bit,” explained the Turk.

“I will see what happens because anything can still happen in football. For now, I will look at doing some TV work in Europe and we will see,” he continued.

Moreover, the ex-Chiefs manager revealed that leaving Ajax wasn’t an easy decision to make because there are so many youngsters whom he loved as his sons.

“It was a difficult decision to leave the club because the young boys looked up to me as their father,” responded the coach.

“My decision to leave is not personal and I hope they will keep working hard to take the club back to the PSL,” said the former Mpumalanga Black Aces boss.

“Remember, it was the first time the club was relegated and it was a difficult situation for all of us, but we were together,” he reflected.

“So, these things happen in professional football where you lose a player as a coach or a coach leaves his players,” concluded Ertugral.