From a coaching perspective, Owen da Gama sauntered into the big time of South African football carrying on his back an exuberant Platinum Stars outfit back in 2003/04, capturing the hearts and minds of fans with their free-flowing style, and has not looked back since. That he had been at Dynamos before then, between 1992 and 1998, doesn't matter much to many. It speaks to the staying power of the man affectionately known as "Rubber Doll" that he is still going strong and remaining relevant even with so many young coaches coming up in the Premier Soccer League. However, the 62-year-old has been on the sidelines (no, not touchline) since leaving Sekhukhune United in June last year. Is there something in the pipeline? Soccer Laduma's Masebe Qina engaged the veteran…
Masebe Qina: "Rubber Doll", how have you been keeping?
Owen da Gama: I've been very good and I've been working very hard on myself in trying to be as fit as possible, and that has been for health purposes and nothing else. I haven't been involved in any competitions or anything, but most importantly, I've been watching a lot of football. I've been going to matches and watching football on TV – I'm talking about local and international football. So, I've been keeping myself busy with a lot of football in my life.
MQ: Many feel your return to coaching is long overdue.
ODG: Look, I've been speaking to a couple of clubs, but obviously you've got to respect the chairmen of clubs because everybody has got ideas and they want to implement their ideas. I've been speaking to some club owners, and I've also been working a lot with Mike Makaab, who is a top agent in South Africa, and we've been working together. You know, in football, opportunities come and go and you just have to look for the right opportunities to add value to the game. We are on the pipeline, but we are patient and we understand what's happening with football at the moment. We watch a lot of football and we are just waiting for the right opportunity.
MQ: Some coaches are about "projects" when deciding their next move, like in the case of coach Pitso Mosimane. What goes into your decision-making when you have an offer on the table?
ODG: Ja, I think this is a very important question because to understand people and to understand where they need to go, you need to start with a very strong base. With me, it's all about longevity. It's all about long-term plan. I have helped a lot of clubs out of relegation when things were bad. I helped (Bloemfontein) Celtic, I helped Platinum Stars and a lot of other teams. But for me, the most important thing is to sit down with the chairman of a club and get to understand what they actually want. Once you understand what the chairman of a club wants, the second phase would be to implement a plan. Try and speak to a chairman, to say, "You know what, it's all about the foundation." Building a foundation at a team is the most important thing because you want longevity. You want a situation where that team gets better and better and better over the years. The fly-by-night situation, I think it's a bit outdated now. We try and bring foreign coaches just to get quick results and be in a position where you can do things in a quick situation. It's important not to get relegated and not to be in a bad position, but for me, the most important thing is to build a foundation.
MQ: A solid foundation is the key to success, as they say.
ODG: True, and that's what I did when I went to (Orlando) Pirates. It's on record when I said that I was at Pirates to build a foundation. I was at the club to build a strong foundation and with the help of the chairman at Pirates (Dr. Irvin Khoza), we did that. I mean, when Ruud Krol walked into Pirates, he went on to win the treble. At Celtic, I took the team from relegation and we built solid foundations, and we went from relegation to number five on the log. It was all about building foundations and it doesn't take long to build foundations, but it takes at least a season to get that special foundation within a team. That, to me… and with the vision of a chairman of a club, that's the most important thing to do, and you must understand what the chairman wants. That's the biggest investment that a club chairman can make.
MQ: What are some of the lessons you learnt from coaching a big club like Bucs?
ODG: What I learnt from my experience with Pirates is that you've got to be on the same page with the chairman and the club. You cannot go and just do what you want as a coach. It must be a project that is about the collective, where the club wants to go and how the club wants to do things. I think that's the big lesson that I learnt as a coach over the years.
MQ: You were recently quoted in the media saying your dream is to coach Kaizer Chiefs…
ODG: Ja, look, Chiefs are a powerhouse in South African football and there are no doubts about it. At times, when you look at Chiefs, you see the potential and you see how far it can go. You know, Molefi Ntseki is doing a fantastic job and there's no doubt about that. He is a coach that I worked with at SAFA. He was my assistant when we qualified for the Olympics in Senegal. So, I've worked with him before and I understand that he is a very talented coach. There is no doubt about that and I am not undermining coach Ntseki. But sometimes you speak as a coach and say where you would like to coach one day, and I think that would be a dream come true for me. That's one of my dreams, to go to a club like Chiefs and sit down with the (Motaung) family and say, "What is the way forward? How can we take it to another level?" With my knowledge and experience, I believe that we can take the club to a whole new level because I see so much potential at Chiefs, it's unbelievable. Chiefs are playing in a level now where they can go three, four steps higher. There is so much potential at the club and I really respect that.
MQ: Having coached a big team before, would it help in dealing with the pressure at a side like Amakhosi?
ODG: No, no, no, the pressure comes with the territory. That's important. A coach must understand that with the experience that he has, he would need to have a way of dealing with pressure. I've been in those kinds of situations before, even in the national team. You take that pressure and you turn it into something that is very productive.
MQ: How have you managed to stay relevant as a coach with clubs now looking to the up-and-coming tacticians?
ODG: I think the most important thing is to be involved, and my passion is burning. I'm so passionate about the game and that's why I watch NFD (Motsepe Foundation Championship), PSL (topflight) and I go and watch local games at SAB League level, ABC Motsepe League and all the lower leagues that I can go to. I go and watch as many games as I can because I'm so passionate about identifying players. We are so rich in this country with talent, it's unbelievable. You can't sit at home and just watch soccer on TV, you've got to go out. I mean, I went to a village last week and I identified an unbelievable player, and I've never seen a player like that in a long time. People are not taking note of these things and yet we've got so much talent in this country. I mean, when I went to watch UJ (University of Johannesburg) playing, I saw this Given Msimango boy and
I identified him and I took him to Highlands Park. I saw (Mokete) Mogaila, who is now playing for Royal AM, and I took him. I saw (Daniel) "Sailor" Tshabalala playing in Sebokeng and I went to watch his games…and many of these other boys. I don't want to keep on talking about these things, but I identified some of these boys and today they are household names at the highest level in the country. I think God has given me a little bit of an eye so that I can see players and identify them. We haven't even touched the surface in terms of unearthing talent in this country in the way we are so rich with these talented players. It's a matter of opening the eyes to identify them and give them the opportunities.
MQ: How do you think Msimango will do at the Soweto giants?
ODG: I think the boy has got a bright future. I'm seeing the boy going from Chiefs to a European club one day. But for now, he must help Chiefs to stabilise and do well, although in future I see him going on to achieving bigger and better things in Europe. He is talented and he's got an educated brain because he was studying at university and that's why he's got a well-oiled brain and he's got charisma and physical attributes of a top defender. I think my ability that has helped me to move forward also is to be able to take a player who plays in a certain position and make something special out of him in a different position. I remember at Pirates, Teko Modise was a winger all his life, even at SuperSport United before Pirates signed him. When I worked with him at Pirates, I said, "No, man, this boy is a number 10." I said number 10 or right midfield, and he went on to be a great star. It's the same with Peter Shalulile, he was also a right winger at Highlands Park. He was out of favour, having scored seven goals in two seasons and I said, "No, this boy is a striker." I converted him and he went on and on, and as you know, he has broken all the records in South African football. It's so good when you can see the quality of a player and put him in a position that makes sense and where his quality will show and be appreciated and become something very special. I'm just glad that I could contribute in changing the players' lives.
MQ: Coach Ernst Middendorp recently said there's no camaraderie and trust between coaches in South Africa. Have you experienced this?
ODG: I'll be very honest with you, when you talk about trust, the way I understand it, it's a professional thing. Unless I don't understand what kind of trust we are talking about here. At the end of the day, you've got a job to do. But there is a lot of professional… I wouldn't say jealousy, but there's a lot of intimations. In other words, coaches want to do well because at the end of the day, their jobs are on the line. So, there is professional courtesy that you must have towards other coaches, but about trust, I don't know. All I know is that there should be trust between you and your employer because that's where your allegiance lies, with your employer. With the other coaches, you just need to have professional courtesy. That's very important.
MQ: Are you a fan of co-coaching, as we see it at most clubs these days?
ODG: I'm not a big fan of co-coaching. I must be honest with you, I had the experience of it when I was at Sekhukhune United together with coach (MacDonald) Makhubedu and I am not a fan of it. I believe that a coach must be given an opportunity to do his job and if he is not good enough, he must move on. You can have a Technical Director that is there to assist the coach to make sure that he's got the necessary support. Where have you ever seen co-coaching anywhere in the world? The last time I remember seeing co-coaching was with Brazil with Carlos Alberto Parreira and (Mario) Zagallo, and it didn't work. For me, I don't believe in co-coaching because I believe that at the end of the day, there must be a bull in the kraal. At Sundowns, it must have worked, but they have gone back to basics now. Rhulani (Mokwena) is in charge and there is no co-coaching there anymore.
MQ: Let's leave it there, coach.
ODG: I will be back, with God's will. Thank you.
