So another coaching casualty on the weekend. This time it's Steve Komphela, who has been ejected from Free State Stars. If you ask me, it's a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, considering the great work Steve has done for Free State Stars over the years. On a budget far smaller than most of the bigger teams in the PSL, Steve has managed to make Free State Stars competitive, getting them into the top eight for the past two seasons and also seems to have a knack for unearthing some great talent. I'm not one hundred percent sure whether he did the scouting or not for Free State Stars, but certainly under his guidance the club signed some raw talent that blossomed and at a club like Free State Stars, you would think that alone is worth its weight in gold. But out with the old and in with the new...
I have no doubt Steve will find a new club soon. He is one of the top coaches in South Africa and his services will be valuable to whoever brings him on board. The season halfway mark is almost upon us and usually that's when clubs decide their coach will keep them up or that they need to freshen things up.
That said, what is completely ridiculous in my opinion is that there are rumours that Roger de Sa's job is at risk should he not win the Telkom Knockout. How on earth is a coach who against all odds has taken Orlando Pirates to the final of the CAF Champions League, has beaten some of the best teams on the African continent, and who has now qualified his team for three Cup Finals in one season, feeling the heat?
Yes, Orlando Pirates is at the bottom of the league table, but they have played just five games to everyone else's 10 or so. The squad has come off an unbelievably gruelling schedule, have been travelling all over the continent, have had players doing duty for the national team, and that will take a toll. But to say that De Sa's job is in danger… that is just crazy talk.
Former Orlando Pirates coach and Dutch legend Ruud Krol has just resigned as coach of Tunisian club CS Sfaxian having just won the CAF Confederation Cup, and automatically he has been linked with the Pirates job. Would bringing him back be a move forwards or backwards for Orlando Pirates?
In my opinion, what Krol did with Orlando Pirates was magnificent, but it took him three seasons to get going, showing the power of continuity. Considering the experience Roger has gained in the Champions League as a coach, considering the type of football Orlando Pirates is playing, it would make no sense at all to disrupt the balance of a team that is potentially the best team on the African continent if they serve up their best football. Yet still the knives are out. Supposedly sources within the Bucs camp are dishing out stories claiming that Roger's fate is already sealed, that a new coach has already been anointed. If that proves to be true, I think it would be a sad day for South African football and take Orlando Pirates three seasons backwards from doing anything special again.
Roger has shown that you don't need a European accent, a heavily padded CV and a textbook of footballing clichés and coaching mumbo-jumbo to hold down a coaching job at a big three club in South Africa. There is an honesty about the way he talks to the media and the way he goes about his job. And at all times it seems that rather than self-preservation at all costs, it's always the team he puts first. The way that he has combined the yin and the yang of the local coaching world by embracing the philosophies of both Eric Tinkler and Tebogo Moloi is a credit to him, and show his understanding of the need to combine seemingly opposing philosophies to get the best out of South African teams. It's refreshing to see a technical team of young South African coaches taking on and beating the best on the African continent.
But this is football and anything can happen. It's an emotional game at times where irrational knee-jerk reactions prevail. It's not a South African thing, it's a football thing. David Moyes is under similar pressure at Manchester United, but one good win and those same supporters who are questioning his appointment will be his biggest allies. With Roger de Sa, possibly it's a cup win that's needed before he's given some breathing space.
Even so, the fact that he is supposedly 90 minutes plus extra time, plus penalties away from the axe is farcical. I hope sense prevails.
Shapa, Clint!
