With Ernst Middendorp back at Cape Town Spurs for the continuation of his project, the experienced German has been lauded for promoting youth development.
At the beginning of June, Spurs announced the parting of ways with the former Kaizer Chiefs coach, then only to make another announcement last week about the 65-year-old's return in his role as the head coach.
Following the Western Cape team's relegation at the end of last season, Middendorp has been tasked with bringing the club back to the top flight.
In 19 games in charge, Middendorp led the team to five victories and five draws following a difficult start to the season under promotion-winning coach Shaun Bartlett who didn't get a single point in seven matches.
Under Middendorp, the Urban Warriors have been lauded for improved performances and their fighting spirit, with management hoping for a quick return to the top flight.
"There had been meetings between club management and the coach after the season finished and ending the relationship has never been a priority for the parties. The club has been pleased with how the coach did with the team in the short period of time and it's just that it was a little too late when he was appointed. Ernst Middendorp is such an experienced coach, and he did well with the youngsters and the future is bright for the team with him in charge. Just watch and see where all those youngsters will be in the next few years and Ernst is very good for their development and South African football," said the source.
Speaking exclusively to the Siya crew, Middendorp discusses the highs and lows of the 2023/24 season.
The Good
"I think I have done it (surviving relegation) several times. It's not an easy task, but if you are having the confidence, and if you know what you are able to do, there will be no doubt about it. I was always talking about chasing the impossible. I was always talking about each and everything that had to be going into the right direction. I was talking about the maximum points we needed, and we were hoping to finish in position 15 at least at the end of the season," said Middendorp.
On giving opportunities to players
"We had Siviwe (Nkwali) coming out of the ABC (Motsepe League) team, and he never played before. We had Liam (Bern) in a totally different position, we had Chumani (Butsaka) playing regularly, we had Asenele (Velebayi) playing regularly, we had Rushwin (Dortley) playing really a dominant role so far, activating the athlete in him to a little bit of a better position and being a (transfer) target from a lot of clubs at the moment. Thato Mokeke coming in the middle of April after he had a broken bone last year in October, was definitely significant. Also to come in the end of the season to keep the level, Tshepo Gumede was outstanding after he started working for us at the end of March although he was not involved in our pre-season. Katlego Maphathe on the side was definitely outstanding. In the beginning, he didn't have the pace as he was also not involved in full pre-season coming from Richards Bay. Those are the types of players we could assemble or add because they didn't cost money and were available. But somehow, they all had certain handicaps. Of course, Rafiq De Goede got injured and he was out. He didn't make any further appearances for the rest of the season. I trusted these players. I believed that they could do the job, and, yeah, they have not disappointed. They have been fully PSL players from the beginning with the first game in 2014 until the last game as we saw against Kaizer Chiefs where they won convincingly," he said.
The Bad
"I don't know who made the decision before (at the beginning of the season). I don't know who brought these players together. I don't know who was in charge of putting the first 11 onto the field. I don't know who was involved in these discussions. I can tell you, I only watched the games in December. And for me, after we played the last game on the 31st of December, I said, this is not working in the way as it is set up. I wanted to turn it around. I was asking myself questions like what happened two months ago? What happened in the past? I decided in the beginning of January. Thank God we had the six-week pre-season because of the Africa Cup of Nations. The rest I couldn't influence. It was not my bread and butter, and I was not involved at all in what happened from July or June. I don't have to talk about it because three points out of 15 games tells you the story," the coach added.
The Ugly
"When you go into the industry and with the economy like this, companies are under administration. This is what happened here with the team and the club were in a situation where it was under administration. I had to look at what I thought was possible," concluded Middendorp.
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