WARRIORS midfielder and Mamelodi Sundowns captain Esrom Nyandoro says the clubs players are fully behind caretaker coach Trott Moloto who took over the hot-seat after the surprise exit of Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoitchkov.

Stoitchkov resigned on Tuesday saying the club had failed to offer him a new contract as his current deal was expiring in June.

However this is contradicted by the club which is reported by South African media as saying Stoitchkov was offered a new deal albeit with a number of conditions which Bulgarian was apparently unhappy with.

Sundowns, who are owned by South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, have since turned to former South Africa coach Moloto to take-over in a caretaker capacity.

And club captain Nyandoro said the players were backing the new gaffer.

"Trott has coached at the highest level and has been in this position at Sundowns before, so there is nothing new for him. He knows the players very well and we understand what he expects us to do on the field.

“He has been talking a lot to us and everybody seems to enjoy working under him. What we need to do is give the coach our full support and work hard to win the game on Saturday (against Free State Stars,” Nyandoro is reported as saying.

Meanwhile reports in Stoitchkov’s native Bulgaria claim that money was behind the coach’s fall-out with the hierarchy at Sundowns.

Stoitchkov has reportedly earned R9 million (US$1.2 million) in the nine months he was in charge at Sundowns and some club officials are said to have resented this claiming they did most of the work while he drew the bid salary.

Meanwhile the Bulgarian coach and his two assistants have vowed not to leave South Africa until the club pays up their contracts.

“We have contracts with Sundowns until June and they must pay us. We have other options in Europe, but we won’t leave South Africa until we get paid our salaries. Despite the World Cup here in South Africa, it’s just crazy how things happen in this country,” one of Stoitchkov’s assistants said.