The South African Football Association (Safa) fired Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana without the consent of the three assessors, this is according to Clive Barker.

The 65-year-old, along with Gavin Hunt and Jomo Sono, were hired by SAFA to assess the side during their friendlies against Norway and Iceland.

Barker told AmaZulu's website: "I flew up to Johannesburg and went to see Danny Jordaan briefly before he went to the all important meeting. I kept the report in my briefcase; spoke to Raymond Hack who informed me there had been a misunderstanding.

"I was told that the meeting would instead occur on Thursday at 12:30 at SAFA House for us all to present our findings. When I got back to Durban I received a telephone call to inform me that Joel Santana had been dismissed. I was surprised. The report is still in my bag!"

With many people putting down Barker's name to lead Bafana to the 2010 World Cup, he himself reckons getting a foreign coach wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"There is only two certainties in the coaching world; one is that coaches are hired and, two is that coaches are going to get fired. And then the vultures of this world just wait for this to happen.

"I however do not think it will be any setback if a way forward will mean for the country to have another foreign coach in this short period.

"Firing a coach by a host nation just before the World Cup has happened throughout the world. In fact coaches do get fired during the big event. Remember Carlos Alberto Parreira was fired by Saudi Arabia in 1988."

The 'Usuthu' technical director along with Jomo Sono and Gavin Hunt were asked by Safa to asses the performance of the side, but admits they were assessing the team and not Santana.

The three assessors were viewed by many South African as Safa's way of softening the blow when they fire Santana, but he is adamant they were assessing the team, not Santana.

"We were given a brief to watch the Norway and Iceland away matches and report back to CEO Raymond Hack, who would in turn forward the report to the SAFA executive committee.

"At no given stage were we given leverage to do an analysis on Joel Santana himself. We deliberated, discussed what went wrong and right in the games. We were able to detect, and comment on the lack of confidence shown during these matches by the players."