The winds of change continue to blow at Chippa United as Peter Koutroulis and his wife Maria have been placed on “special leave”.
Koutroulis served as the club’s CEO and team manager while Maria worked as Chippa’s administration manager.
Koutroulis confirmed on Tuesday that both he and his wife had received an e-mail from the club on Saturday stating that they had been placed on special leave.
On Monday evening, an online publication reported that Koutroulis had parted ways with Chippa United. However, he denied this. “This is not true. But you can call the owner of the club and he must tell you.
“I don’t know who gave you this news but Peter Koutroulis has been placed on special leave,” Koutroulis said.
Asked if his wife had also been placed on special leave, he said: “Yes, we received an e-mail from the club on Saturday, both of us.”
Asked if he knew why he had been placed on special leave, Koutroulis claimed to have no idea and directed questions to the club.
“Lady, I do not know what else to say to you.
“I am telling you now that we are on special leave and I was not told the reason. Ask the chairman.”
Chief operations officer Lukhanyo Mzinzi said: “I cannot confirm or deny the case of any individuals in the club.
“However, I can confirm that as a club for a number of weeks now we have been meeting behind closed doors about restructuring the club.”
Koutroulis was reunited with Chippa in April 2016 after his exit towards the end of the 2015-2016 PSL season.
He has more than 25 years of experience as a soccer administrator, having previously served as a general manager at Mamelodi Sundowns, Thanda Royal Zulu and Mpumalanga Black Aces.
The first disruption in the Chilli Boys’ camp came on Sunday when Chippa confirmed the axing of coach Eric Tinkler and immediately brought in Joel Masutha as an interim coach.
Trigger-happy club boss Siviwe Mpengesi warned that more changes were expected as he was in the process of restructuring the team.
Tinkler was shown the door after a string of poor results, with Chippa failing to win in six attempts.
They occupy second-last position on the log and are just one point ahead of last-placed Black Leopards.