Why I left Medeama hotel in South Africa - Tom Strand opens up

Medeama SC coach, Tom Strand has for the very first time shed insight into why he deserted the club in the middle of last season.

The 35-year-old Swede absconded from Medeama’s hotel in South Africa, after the team suffered a 3-1 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns in the qualifiers for last season’s Caf Confederation Cup competition.

Explaining his decision to leave Medeama at that crucial time in an exclusive chat on Ultimate FM, Tom Strand said he had urgent family issues that needed his full attention but the club was unwilling to give him time off.

“I had private issues that were financial so I had to go home [Sweden] and help my wife and my kid to solve these problems.

“I had a discussion with Medeama that I needed to have a break and go back home to Sweden and fix this problem…” he explained.

“But at that moment, it was like they didn’t have time for that and I can understand them because we were in the middle of an important assignment. I understand that they didn’t want me to leave but I had to leave because it was a question of do or die,” the coach added.

Strand, who won the FA Cup competition and the Super Cup, defeating Asante Kotoko 2-1 and AshGold 1-0 respectively, however says he is not proud of what he did.

“I’m not proud of what I did but it was a necessary situation.

“It was a matter of life… yes it was a very critical situation for me, a private thing that I don’t want to discuss on radio. But sometimes, you need to do what you need to do,” he intimated.

Tom Strand watched his former side Bechem United suffer a 1-0 defeat to Asante Kotoko at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Wednesday.