Retired Southampton Rangers football coach Brian (Bulla) Anderson yesterday accused successor Gerri Saltus of undermining his mandate to revitalise the First Division club's once thriving football programme.

But Saltus last night denied he had done anything to slight his predecessor and said the accusations were news to him.

"He resigned. We had come to give him a helping hand," said Saltus.

Former PHC, Devonshire Cougars, Boulevard and Bermuda midfielder Anderson threw in the towel last week in protest over the club's decision to bring Saltus - a man he did not see eye-to-eye with - onboard to assist him with the team.

Anderson has accused Saltus of planting the seeds of dissension among the ranks and remains upset over remarks his successor is alleged to have made earlier in the season when the club was going through a lean spell.

"During the entire first-half of the season this guy (Saltus) had been saying negative things about the team and then he gets in a meeting saying he is going to assist me - but can't look me in the eye," Anderson vented. "You can't say things like that one day and then the next talk about you're coming to assist me when you cannot even look me in the eye."

Anderson also alleges that Saltus shouted negative comments at him from the stands during this month's Premier's Dudley Eve Cup final involving Rangers and Hamilton Parish at the National Sports Centre (NSC).

"We were down 1-0 and then when we equalised Gerri shouted, "oh Bulla . . . . he (Rangers goal scorer Thomas Brown) saved your neck! Personally I prefer to let the chips to fall where they may, but I think he was way out of line here," he argued.

"I decided to resign because this guy tried to make me look bad so that he can get the job (coaching). I just said 'take it' because I have played too much football and achieved some things in football to allow someone who hasn't achieved anything in the game to try and drag my name in the mud.

"I can't see how people are supposed to come and assist me when they have been talking negative things all along. If Saltus was so interested in assisting the team then why wasn't he there at the beginning of the season? It seems as though he wants to jump on the band wagon when things are looking up and our chances of being promoted look good."

However, Saltus said yesterday he was surprised to hear such comments. He said: "We had a meeting with him. He shook my hand at the first game. He did not say anything like that."

Asked why he thought Anderson had resigned, Saltus said: "He said he was getting tired. We were in a decent position in the league."

Assistant coach Janeiro Tucker, declined to speak to The Royal Gazette about the matter.

Anderson, who spent three-years coaching at nearby Paget Lions before heading over to Southampton Oval, also took issue with his Rangers superiors who he claims did not have his back.

"I really didn't get the support from the club. There were a lot of instances when the BFA (Bermuda Football Association) gave out information to the club, but I was never informed," he said.

The dreadlocked coach joined forces at Rangers one-and-a-half seasons ago and, with the help of a few returning players, has transformed the club into a legitimate promotion contender in a short period of time.

"I think the writing is on the wall as far as promotion is concerned and so it was just a matter of us putting together a good run for the second-half (of the season)," he said.

He also did not rule out the possibility of coaching elsewhere in the future.

"I'm just going to take the rest of the season off and hopefully watch Rangers get promoted and then go from there," Anderson said. "But I'm so fired up at the moment who knows. . . . I might even start training again."