Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 6y

Comitis not concerned by McCarthy link to St Mirren

Cape Town City chairman John Comitis has taken a philosophical view to losing coach Benni McCarthy amid reports that newly-promoted Scottish Premier League side St Mirren have short-listed him for their managerial vacancy.

McCarthy has been linked to the post along with the likes of former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert, ex-Wigan manager Gary Caldwell and former Hibernian coach Alan Stubbs.  

McCarthy has just completed the first year of a three-year contract at City, and also recently obtained his UEFA Pro License, with his wife Stacey and daughter still based in Edinburgh, some 10,000 kilometres from Cape Town.

Comitis also lost former coach Eric Tinkler after one season, the successful coach moving on to SuperSport United, but says he is not fazed by lightning striking twice. 

"Until I'm told anything from Benni himself‚ I'm assuming it's business as usual‚" Comitis told TimesLIVE.

"The last conversation I had with coach Benni [was] 48 hours ago [and] we discussed players we are trying to target‚ to sign‚ so I'm not anticipating any issues.

"But as you know‚ football is football‚ but at this stage we carry on as normal."

Comitis says that he is planning for the season with McCarthy in place, with club insiders having told KweséESPN that McCarthy has told them he will return for a second season.

"At the end of the day‚ we go with what we have. We faced this exact situation with Eric [Tinkler] and we got Benni," Comitis said.

"At this stage‚ as far as I'm concerned‚ he's going back to start training on the 25th [of June]. Benni signed a three-year deal and even if you have a contract‚ you know you can buy the whole contract out.

"If it's a team from the UK‚ I'm sure they can afford that if they really want to‚ but it doesn't depend on that. It depends on what Benni wants."

Comitis said when unveiling McCarthy 12 months ago that he feared the former Bafana Bafana star would be lost to Europe, but if that was the case then it meant he would have done well in the Mother City.

 "It's a compliment to us. If clubs are considering our head coach‚ it means we are doing something right‚" Comitis said.

McCarthy took City to fifth in the Absa Premiership last season, down from third the year before, as well as the MTN8 final where they lost to Tinkler's SuperSport.

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