This week's Do'Rego's blog features Mpumalanga Black Aces' outgoing coach, Jacob Sakala.
Firstly, on winning promotion to the PSL, I would like to thank the management of the club for the support they have given the team throughout the season. We've been working together as a family. I'd also like to thank the players for the collective effort. They've done a very good job. They were soldiers. I had confidence that we would win promotion because the guys were working so hard. The understanding and love we had for one another helped us. We had a very disciplined team. I believe in God. In everything I do, I include God. Always! If you believe in God and work hard, it won't be difficult. Things will work. In everything I did I included Him. I prayed after every training session and after every game. Even in church I got the support through prayers.
If you look at it, it's like we won promotion twice. I never lost hope when we lost our position at the top of the log just before the end of the season. I said, 'We have been given another chance and let's take it because only God knows.' It wasn't easy playing in the Playoffs. Chippa have experienced players and they really wanted it, you could see that hunger. They didn't want to be chopped from this division (PSL). All we told our players was that we had to respect them but we didn't have to fear them. We knew that they were from a higher division. But we only differed in status, and showed on the field that we could do it.
Against Santos we had to plan properly. I respect Ian Palmer because he is a very good coach. He is a very intelligent young man. In my book, he is a young lion. What he is doing is good. But it was a matter of experience. He is going the right way in his career. It's just that he came up against a much more experienced coach (laughing).
We prepared for the weather conditions in Cape Town. We travelled to the city two days before each of the two games we played there, to familiarise ourselves with the conditions. We encountered some problems with the field at Cape Town Stadium because it was a bit slippery. My boys had rubber studs and they weren't working. I advised them to wear the aluminium-studded boots. We then played better and we were able to pass the ball around.
Now that we have succeeded in getting the club promoted, it means a lot to everyone associated with it, including the supporters. It means a lot to the Morfou family, my family - everyone. I don't know how to describe the feeling. Winning promotion has motivated me to work even harder. It tells people that I have been around and that I can go further. It sends a message that there is a lot to come from me. That I have a lot to offer South African football.
On the League saying the Playoff results are provisional, I told the players, 'Gentlemen, let's not focus on those things because that's football politics. We are given a mini league of four games each to qualify for promotion. Let's do the job and forget about those things. We are not lawyers. Our job is to put the ball on the ground, pass it around, score and produce results.' That brought the difference to the club.
Our 2012/13 season in the NFD was hectic! We almost lost it in the end. We lost against Dynamos because my boys became overconfident. They thought it would be a walk in the park and they got the shock of their lives. That's why we did well in the Playoffs. The loss against Dynamos changed their mindset. I told the guys that we lost it at the end. The league was a marathon. From the first whistle, we were at the top of the log. But we decided to lose it in the end. Look at how Thanda Royal Zulu lost it, it was very painful. I told my players, 'Listen, boys, in life there is always a second chance.'
On our management's support, Mario (Morfou) is a very good chairman. I've never seen a young chairman as passionate. I thought that after the loss against Dynamos and the draw in our last league match against Thanda, he was going to be all over me and tell me to pack my bags and leave. Instead, he called me and asked, 'Coach, are you safe? Did you eat? Are you strong enough?' Although we felt that we were losing it, he told us to pick ourselves up and organise the boys. He was very supportive.
I remember when we started the season, he came up with the idea of taking the team to the High Performance Centre. I said, 'I'm going to do my High Performance Centre here, where we train, on my own.' We had Craig Lewis (Aces fitness trainer) helping us and got the support from my lieutenant, Lifa Gqosha.
Lifa Gqosha is a good young man. He's also a young lion who is developing for the cause of South African football. He is the future. We understand each other. He can't backstab me. I sometimes tell him, 'I'm coming, I'll just have coffee there, please do this and that.' When I return I find exactly what I expected. He understands my philosophy.
My future will continue at the club because I've got everyone's support. I was told to choose to continue as coach or to become a technical director. I have chosen to be the technical director of football at the club. I will be supervising the new coach that is coming in. Whenever something goes wrong, we will work on it to make sure that we aren't going back. There will be a lot of people applying for the coaching position. I'll support whoever comes in. I'm not bitter about it. I've got a big position. I will be looking at all the developments of what is happening in the team. I will be in a higher position.
The competition in the PSL is very high so we will need to prepare. Experience will be needed. We can't go all out with young boys only. There will be times when the going gets tough, and we'll need experience in the team.
Jacob Sakala,
Mpumalanga Black Aces' outgoing coach
