Cape Town Spurs will have a brand new technical team going forward.
Head coach Shaun Bartlett has been followed out of the door by assistant coach Nasief Morris and goalkeeper coach Calvin Marlin, who was also the club’s analyst.
The club’s new technical director Sean Connor will take over the head coach role on a “temporary” basis.
The new assistant coach will be Vasili Manousakis, who is returning to Ikamva, where he was a youth coach before his stints with Cape Town City, AmaZulu and Richards Bay.
Following an extensive review and discussions with Shaun Bartlett and taking into consideration the current set of results- we have mutually agreed to the termination of the Head Coaches contract with immediate effect.
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) October 2, 2023
[1/4] pic.twitter.com/AeHwxKE5E9
Why didn’t they add to the current coaching team instead?
The club’s rise back to prominence with a former star player in charge Shaun Bartlett was a match made in football heaven.
It made for a truly beautiful story but it’s all over now with a brand new technical team taking over with immediate effect on Monday.
However, Spurs possess the unwanted record of being winless in their opening seven matches so change was expected.
The way the technical team was set up was not at the standard of a Premiership team serious about playing at a top level.
They are balling in the Premiership on an NFD budget.
The club is a long way from being ready to compete at a Premiership level.
You only have to look at some of the team sheets in their journey back to the top flight.
🚨CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) October 2, 2023
Coach Vasili Manousakis has been appointed as assistant coach to temporary Head Coach (TD) Sean Connor.
Cape Town Spurs F.C. wishes coach Vasili much success.
Welcome to the Warriors.#CAPETOWNSPURS#URBANWARRIORS#PSL#DSTVPREMIERSHIP#OURYOUTHOURFUTURE pic.twitter.com/P39y6iimkN
There were times the team didn’t travel with a fitness trainer, which meant that the physio doubled up and would be in charge of getting the team conditioned for matches.
There were times the team would even travel without a goalkeeper coach before Marlin joined, and he ended up also taking over the analyst role and even assisted in the club’s boarding house, Lambda Institute.
The new technical team might face the same problems if they are not given the resources needed to perform at a top flight level.
There is just now way they can achieve survival without a beefed up bench and squad.
It’s been clear that the team needs more quality on the pitch. The results are obvious. They tried to match their opponents and it hasn’t really worked out.
The group they had was only built to give them the wisdom and game management they lacked in years before and help them push for promotion.
The playoffs were not the ideal situation because they had to wait until the final day for their promotion to be guaranteed.
It’s often the teams that make it via the playoffs that struggle adjusting to life in the top league.
That shouldn’t have been a problem for a club like Spurs though, with a comeback story as the one they had.
For instance, one phone call to the club’s former head scout Tera Maliwa would open up the whole West African market which is filled with unattached next generation talent.
He would without a doubt be more than happy to share the list of players he has but might not fit the bill at his employers at Mamelodi Sundowns.
There’s just no way you can tell me there are West African players who would ignore a call from a club based on the same grounds that Emmanuel Emenike, Obi Mikel, Steven Pienaar and Eyong Enoh passed through on their way to the European big time.
Whoever comes in will need a big January window to save them.
The once thriving Ikamva, which was also a key tourism stop for Dutch tourists during their visits to Cape Town, is now an empty shell with vacant offices.
One used to be greeted by a smiling face at reception but nowadays you just sit there and wait for the person you’re visiting to come and fetch you.
Gone are the days you would even be offered water, coffee or tea while you wait.
Even the youth players don’t greet guests anymore.
I know this because I was that tour guide that took people to Ikamva where we would meet the swanky Shooz Mekuto, who would welcome us and take us around the facility.
It was a well-thought out space with a story that references their Amsterdam big brother of nurturing the best talents.
The journey of a football made at Ikamva was also clear from the U12 First Touch programme where they are integrated into the system by the legendary Ta Grompie.
It’s a journey through the various youth levels and graduating into the first team, reserved for only a selected few up to this point.
We can only sit back and watch which way it’s gonna go for Cape Town Spurs from here on.