Olimpija sack coach who called Nigerian player “black Idiot”

– Coach Marko Nikolac have been “mutually
consented” by Olimpija Ljubljana for calling
Nigerian player “black idiot”
– The Slovenia league leaders says it had
no choice but to part ways with Nikolic
following a seven match ban by the FA on
the coach
– Nikolic was caught on camera racially
abusing Nigerian forward, Blessing Eleke for
“over celebrating” after getting his team’s
equalizer in a 1 – 1 draw at home against
Zavrc on Sunday, April 10
Slovenia league leaders, Olimpija Ljubljana,
have parted ways with their coach Marko
Nikolic via ‘mutual consent’, Complete Sports
reports.
This comes after Nikolic was handed a
seven-match ban by the FA for a racial slur
against one of his own players, Nigerian
forward Blessing Eleke.
According to Olimpija Ljubljana’s president
Milan Mandaric, the club had no choice but
to lay off the Serbian coach, since the ban
meant Nikolic would have been kept away
from the dugout until the end of the season.
“It was not an easy decision but as the club’s
president I had no other options,” Mandaric,
the former Leicester City and Portsmouth
owner said on the club’s official website.
“Nikolic is a good coach but he committed an
intolerable offence while Olimpija, a club that I
took over because of its huge potential, has to
remain a role model of professional conduct.
“We have reached an agreement with Marko

Nikolic for him to resign as coach. He is a
good coach, a good man, but he made a
mistake and had to pay for it,” Mandaric
added.
Olimpija Ljubljana have sacked their coach
Marko Nikolic via ‘mutual consent’ for his
black idiot racial slur on Nigerian Blessing
EEleken
Let's recalls that Eleke had said his
religious background influenced him in
talking the club president Milan Mandaric
out of sacking the Serbian.
This prompted Mandaric to forgive Nikolac.
The club president had said in a press
briefing: “The remarks of our coach were not
racially motivated. He just wanted to win the
game. We are all focused on qualifying for the
championship playoffs and going on to win the
league.”
However, the Slovenian FA intervened by
banning Nikolac, citing “clear racism” as its
reason for acting.
Just before the ban and his sack,
Nikolac had apologized to Eleke for fear of
losing his job after he racially abused him.
Nikolac said his remarks about Eleke were
not racist as he only wanted his team to
conserve time and try to score a winning
goal as they aim to reach the championship
playoffs.
He said he was very angry when he saw
Eleke ‘over celebrating’ after the Nigerian
scored a leveller for Olimpija against Zavrc
on Sunday, April 10.
He said: “I wish to apologise to the to
everyone – the President, the Sports Director,
Blessing Eleke and finally all fans of Olimpija
for an inadvertent remark, which when heard
again on television later sounded very
distasteful and worthy of condemnation.
“My only wish was that after the equaliser on
92 minutes, we should try to get the winning
goal. My target is to reach the national
championship playoffs and go on to win the
championship. I would like to thank all the
team for understanding that my remarks were
not meant to be racist.”
Olimpija top Slovenia’s 10-team first division
with 62 points from 30 games, two more
than the champions Maribor with six games
remaining.