AFTER becoming the first coaching casualty of the FLOW/National Basketball League (NBL) season, highly rated basketball coach Lennon Lindo says although he did not expect to be sacked he holds no grudge against the club and believes the team can still contest the title.

Lindo was fired following a one-point defeat to Waterhouse Blazers a little over a week ago. It was the Spartans’ third loss in 10 matches, and this was after a five-match unbeaten start to the season.

However, after four defeats in their last five games, the St Catherine High school coach says that some members of the team took it upon themselves to convince the club management that he no longer had the confidence of the players.

“The manager came to me and told me that the players were losing confidence in my decision making, and so he asked me to step back and allow them to go a different path,” Lindo revealed in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“I don’t believe it’s the whole team because I still communicate with members of the team,” Lindo added.

He was also quick to point out that although the team was having a few hiccups, he was confident they would have smoothed things out, but being dismissed was the farthest thing from his mind.

“I was not really expecting it, although we had some hiccups and we had some arguments where things were said, but I never thought it would have gone to this extent,” Lindo said.

“But I wouldn’t say I feel betrayed, because this is like business and if they (club) want to move in a different direction and move without you, you just have to live with it and move on,” he stated.

However, Lindo thinks the team still has all the tools to be a championship side.

“It’s a really talented team and they have good leadership qualities, so I believe they can handle themselves and they are more than capable of going very far in the competition,” he noted.

Lindo said he’s unlikely to coach another NBL team before the season expires and will just concentrate on developing young players for his school teams and in and around Spanish Town.

However, his biggest disappointment was not being able to keep the promise he made to team supporters, that he would be with the team throughout the campaign, no matter what.

“But I guess they (club) had other plans,” he said.

Meanwhile, Spartans manager Marlon Beale, explained that the management of the club was not happy with the direction the club was heading and so the decision was taken to end their association with Lindo.

“In terms of the overall coaching for the season we were seeing some weaknesses and we wanted a better application and team chemistry, and so we as management felt that it would be better to have a mutual separation,” he said.

“We had discussions and talked about it and I think for the betterment of all the decision was taken to remove Mr Lindo as the coach,” he continued.

Beale said he will now oversee the team until the first round ends.