Darren Abdilla has been sacked as coach of Valletta FC.
The Valletta FC committee took the decision following Sunday’s 4-1 BOV Premier League defeat to Birkirkara.
“I can confirm that Darren Abdilla is no longer the coach of Valletta FC,” club president Victor Sciriha said.
“The Valletta FC committee will be discussing the vacant coaching job in the coming hours and we will take the necessary decisions.”
Abdilla took the social media to give his reaction and did not hide his disappointment at the club’s decision.
“Today was my last day as coach of Valletta FC. After a decision by the committee, I had my contract terminated,” Abdilla wrote.
“I feel devastated to say the least as I cannot understand the decision behind it. The team is in first place, made history by playing in the 3rd qualifying round in European football, won the only cup available till today, still in the race for the two other major honours, helped young players to establish themselves rather than being benchwarmers, amongst others.
“Although I had a contract of three years, and this was my job, with my consensus, I forfeited two years’ salary, even though under my leadership the club obtained €1.2m, the highest ever in the history of the club from European competitions. Because for me it was not about the money.
“Not everything was working fine, and I was never afraid of shouldering the responsibility. There are many stake holders in the club which all must share part of the responsibility. We always prepared to our best of ability during the week but during the matches the players are on the field of play.
“I augur the next coach for a successful journey. I left the club top of the table with only 8 matches to go and in the quarter final of the FA Trophy. Other lucky coaches might have their contract renewed for being top the table.”
Sciriha said that the club are already scouring the market to appoint his successor and it is understood that the three candidates for the job are Giovanni Tedesco, Alfonso Greco and Branko Nisevic as the Citizens prefer a coach who have good knowledge of Maltese football.
Tedesco is the leading candidate for the job. The former Floriana and Ħamrun Spartans coach started the season with Gżira United but was sacked from the job last month, only to be replaced by Paul Zammit.
Greco also lost his job to Sliema Wanderers last week with Andrea Pisanu taking the reins of the Blues last weekend.
On the other hand, Branko Nisevic, a former Valletta defender, is currently a free agent after his contract as assistant coach with the Malta national team was not renewed last December.
Abdilla had been appointed as the new Valletta coach at the start of the season.
After a bumpy start to the season, Abdilla managed to steady the ship in the last few weeks as the team went on a run of 11 matches without defeat that enabled to annull a nine-point deficit on leaders Floriana.
However, it looks like the performance of the Malta champions against Valletta on Sunday didn’t go down well with Abdilla who decided to step down from the job, even though the team are currently sharing top spot with Floriana.
Assistant coach Gilbert Agius took charge of the team training session on Tuesday but Valletta are expected to name their new coach on Wednesday.