There’s a growing conversation on the ground about the interesting trend of co-coaches employed in the PSL.
Mamelodi Sundowns have shown us that it’s possible.
And the best part is the coaches are protected from being targeted or pushed out by the trigger-happy PSL owners.
We’ve seen it one too many times before, the tendency of PSL owners to point everything at the coach when things don’t go well. Coaches get hired and fired without thinking twice here in Mzansi.
Other than that, there’s also been evidence of a lack of trust on local coaches, especially black and coloured coaches.
AmaZulu coach Brandon Truter couldn’t help himself from speaking out against the preference given to European coaches last week, following a 1-0 victory against his former employers Swallows.
The Kaapenaar was fired by Swallows, which had left a sour taste in his mouth because he felt that he was victimised and not protected by the club.
Truter said: “The way I left Swallows wasn’t nice. What the public doesn’t know is what happened during my exit from the club.
“My family was threatened: supporters came to my house and to training. They basically [wanted to] to force me out the door, wanting me to resign. “Resigning then means there’s no settlement or pay out. I had to stand and protect my family at that moment.”
He added that Swallows had yet to pay him his settlement following his dismissal before the festive season last year, saying: “Of course, there was a pay-out clause that Swallows also held at that moment. So, I couldn’t leave at my free will. I mean, the supporters stopped the bus at one stage and the security didn’t protect me.
“I have videos and SMSs to prove this. I am not lying or making up stories. It’s there for everybody to see.”
He then commented on his replacement Dylan Kerr, who hasn’t managed to improve the Birds’ situation which has seen them slide into relegation danger.
Of Kerr he said: “Swallows coach Dylan Kerr had 19 games to turn it around, and for a coach that is worth his salt, he could have turned it around.
“He is a foreign coach, he should be doing better than local coaches, so again it is a point for the local coaches. This means a lot to me and that we should be looking at local coaches and not at cheap foreign imports.”
This even happens at national level too. You hear of youth and senior coaches working without permanent contracts at the national association. But you’d never hear a foreign coach working without a contract.
Your service history in SA football as a former player for a club and even the national team doesn’t seem to even matter.
As a result you find a national pool of coaches that is divided and behaving like crabs in a bucket, trying to outdo each other for the next opportunity to coach in the country.
My brother Lungile “Mamule” Tekani might be right, when he told me that a more secure and sustainable future for SA football coaches is crucial.
Maybe the suggestion of adding Doctor Khumalo, who has basically worked with most of the coaches at Kaizer Chiefs from the 2000s into the 2010s, to Arthur Zwane’s technical team is what Chiefs need.
The same thing can happen at Pirates should the co-coaches Fadlu Davids and Mandla Ncikazi leave.
There’s a large rich think tank of 100-percent Buccaneers coaching at various clubs. Dan Malesela is one of the fine examples. He’s a former Pirates captain and has a proven track record coaching in some of the most challenging circumstances in the league.
Why can’t he be called upon to join coach Fadlu and Mandla to be the more experienced head within the group, similar to what Steve Komphela is to Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena at Downs?
This would give the coaches more job security and influence within the team.