PAUHL Shakes Mallembu was linked with the vacant Rundu-based club Cuca Tops FC’st top coaching job , following the resignation of former coach Gundolf Mukoya, who resigned from his post early January.
Mukoya was the mastermind behind the team’s promotion to this season’s Debmarine Premiership after helping Cuca Tops win the North East First Division title and was in charge of the team’s first seven matches before the club’s assistant coach Jean-Claude Kalinda took over the reign.
Under Kalinda, a well-known youth coach, lost only once in his first three games in charge and that was the defeat in the MTC Maris Cup last  month ago to FC Ongos 3-0, while the other two league matches the team drew 0-0 against UNAM FC and a 1-1-all against Bucks Buccaneers at the UNAM Stadium in Windhoek.
Cuca Tops FC are currently bottom on the log with six points from eight matches played , with their next  league matches against FC Ongos and Tigers this coming weekend in Rundu.
Mallembu, who was the assistant coach under Timo Tjongarero for the U-17 national boys’ team that won the 2016 Council of Southern African Football Association s (COSAFA) U-17 trophy, said that Cuca Tops FC’s offer did not come with a good financial package, which was so easy for him to turn it down.
It is still not clear on whether Cuca Tops FC will still come back with a better financial package to Mallembu or they will continue to stick with Kalinda or they will look to another alternative, despite reports that the club is going through a financial crisis that has resulted in some players refusing to train last week.
It is reported that some clubs in the Debmarine Premiership are paying coaches peanuts, with some coaches getting a roughly N$10 000 to N$15 000 per month, while at the same time that very same salary is always paid in late.
“They (Cuca Tops FC) did approach me but my demand is way far from their expectations. Football is a business and Cuca Tops FC is not ready to offer me a standard contract. I am not ready to settle for less,” said Mallembu.