Achievements, quality players brought about Nabi’s exit from Yanga

It will be comical to say that he is one of the coaches who lasted for a long time at Yanga.

Nabi may have only spent three seasons at Yanga but he has spent a long time with a local football team.

During his period at Yanga, how many coaches do individuals think other sides, Simba SC and Azam FC, have mutually parted ways with?

This is the reality of local football, its stakeholders have imitated other parts of Africa, given a coach only lasts for one season.

If he lasts long then he might coach for two seasons. A coach can steer his club to success in one season and then witness the side taking second place the following season and get a letter of dismissal.

Nabi left Yanga with the outfit posting statement that reached the majority of Tanzanians at midnight.

I hardly know why Yanga likes to inform soccer enthusiasts of the club’s issues at midnight. However, it was clear that Yanga might lose Nabi before the club's forward Fiston Mayele.

Recently, Nabi was quoted via social media that no contract negotiation had continued between him and Yanga since April 2.

It is a bit of a shocking statement, given that Yanga's president, Hersi Said, told football enthusiasts they had the plan to extend Nabi's stay.

It is obvious Nabi has an offer in hand, I think he is pleased with the offers that are on his table.

He had to get an offer after leading Yanga to the final of this season's CAF Confederation Cup.

I initially believed that Yanga would fight to keep Nabi, however, I am starting to get worried after his statement that Yanga may already have other plans before even the CAF Confederation Cup final.

Nabi has told soccer lovers that the last time he spoke to Yanga was during the side's CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage match against DR Congo's TP Mazembe.

Either way, it was a happy ending, and it was not the end of the road given Nabi has left Yanga respectfully.

Right now I'm trying to remind myself that even the tears he shed during the continental showdown's final against USM Alger in Algeria meant that that was his last match in Yanga's technical area.

Yanga has won 29 Mainland Tanzania Premier League titles, therefore, Nabi will not be remembered much for the two Premier League titles he lifted with the squad because there are many coaches to have clinched the top honours with the outfit.

Nabi will be remembered more for taking Yanga to the final of the CAF Confederation Cup, no coach has ever led Yanga to the highest stage of the CAF inter-club showdown more than him.

Yanga will be 89 years old in February next year and, in the number of its coaches that exceed more than 200, no coach has ever achieved a feat that Nabi has enjoyed, therefore, after his departure, he will always be remembered.

If the gaffer might return to the country to coach Simba SC, he can break his respectable rank with Yanga but, otherwise, he will always be remembered.

As for Yanga, they have something to brag about to Nabi. Well, he was a good coach but they succeeded to rope in the best players for him.

If Nabi had the likes of the players who were under the tutelage of former Yanga coach, Congolese Mwinyi Zahera, I hardly think the Jangwani Street team would have been able to do what it did last season.

This is a case facing coach Pep Guardiola at Manchester City FC. People are arguing about either his quality or the quality of his players.

The truth is that the club has two best aspects, Guardiola is the best coach but he also has the best players.

Yanga's pride might lay in letting Nabi go easily because of the squad the outfit currently boasts and the money the side possesses.

The side might find a better coach than Nabi who will strengthen the outfit. It is also possible that Yanga has felt that it has the chance to get the best coach that will ensure it achieves more success compared to the achievements it enjoyed under Nabi's tutelage.

One should remember that Yanga has only been successful in CAF Confederation Cup but the club owes stakeholders a lot as far as flourishing in CAF Champions League is concerned.

The last time the club reached the CAF Champions League quarterfinals was in 1998 and, at that time, the tournament was played in a different format that approved outfits taking part in Group Stage as last-eight round participants.

The club's rival Simba SC has reached the last-eight round severally in the current system, a quite difficult feat to achieve.

The new Yanga under GSM Group sponsorship had first wanted to crawl back to success in Premier League, which witnessed Simba SC enjoying dominance for four years in a row, and, Yanga further decided to embark on a search for more success in Africa inter-club showdowns.

In CAF Champions League, Yanga did not do well under Nabi, the squad then did well in CAF Confederation Cup. Yanga might believe the club needs a tactician set to take the club further in CAF Champions League.

I see that Yanga and Nabi have improved each other's profiles, the outfit has elevated Nabi and the tactician has done the same for the outfit. Both can get other clients easily based on the success they have achieved together.

Nabi can easily find a prominent outfit after what he did to Yanga, and the Jangwani Street club can also find either a good coach or good players easily after emerging as one of the best teams in Africa last season.

All the best to Nabi and I will personally remember him for some basic issues focused on the field.

The Tunisia-born gaffer had what it takes to competently read the match and change the approach as the match progressed, especially in the second half.

Several times at the beginning of the second half he could change players/tactics that would change the whole game. In the second half, Yanga would opt for a different tactic.

Nabi moreover boasted a great ability to change the squad's approach in the following assignment.

A soccer follower might have seen how Yanga locked horns with Tunisia's Club Africain in this season's CAF Confederation Cup playoff round first leg here in Dar es Salaam.

The follower should have thereafter seen how Yanga played in the round's rematch in Tunis, they were different matches.

A football lover ought to have watched the way Yanga played against USM Alger in the first leg of the continental tournament's final here in Dar es Salaam, then watch how well the former played in the rematch in Algeria.

They were different matches and this was Nabi's great quality that many coaches in the country do not have.

I will mostly remember Nabi for being a coach with what it takes to take difficult decisions on the pitch.

There was a time when he could easily bench a player like Burkinabe midfielder Stephane Aziz Ki despite the footballer's popularity.

Few players at the club were not on the receiving end of his decisions because they showcased quality on the pitch.

Apart from Mayele and goalkeeper, Djigui Diarra, many Yanga players faced Nabi's wrath when they either lost form or were not in good form.