Football governing body, Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) has dismissed reports that they have terminated the employment contract of Uganda Cranes head coach, Johnathan McKinstry.
On Saturday evening several online publications quoting anonymous sources, reported that FUFA has finally decided to sack the Northern Irishman after more than a month since asking him to step aside from managing and coaching the national team.
However in a tweet on Saturday evening, FUFA has said that such a decision hasn’t yet been reached and Mckinstry remains the country’s national team coach.
“Our dear football stakeholders,
FUFA has not taken any decision as reported in various media outlets regarding the status of Uganda Cranes Head Coach Johnny Mckinstry
,” reads FUFA’s tweet.
The Irish joined the Uganda national football team on September, 30 2019 and signed a three-year contract, replacing French national, Sébastien Desabre.
In a March 2 statement on Jonathan Mckinstry’s status, FUFA noted that the Coach had been asked to “step aside from managing and coaching the team for the period from 2nd- 31st March 2021.”
Consequently, the national team was handed to his assistants Mubiru Abdallah, Mbabazi Livingstone and goalkeeping coach Kajoba Fred who handled Uganda’s final two Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers games against Burkina Faso and Malawi.
The football governing body also noted that they were to use the period when Mckinstry away, to to assess and monitor the performance of the team.
Going by the reported remuneration of the Uganda Cranes’ Coach, sacking him at the moment would attract a compensation of USD 255,000 (Shs943m) for the remaining 17 months on his contract.
Many Uganda Cranes supporters have for weeks been asking for Mckinstry’s fate especially now that the period he was asked to step asked elapsed on March 31 yet FUFA opted to remain tight-lipped on the same.
Whereas some sports commentators don’t wholly dismiss news of Mckinstry’s sacking, they don’t rule out a possibility that the Coach could himself influence such reports with a view of provoking FUFA into coming out clearly on his future with the Cranes.