John Comitis, Cape Town City FC chairman. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Cape Town - Eric Tinkler, the Cape Town City coach, recently said that South African football needs football-minded people to make sound football decisions.
It is worth noting Tinkler’s comments because currently, several clubs are in the process of appointing new coaches. Most of the coaches who have severed ties with clubs were shown the exit door because of poor results.
In a recent media interview, the Johannesburg-born Tinkler who spent most of his playing career in foreign countries like Portugal, England and Italy, said his team had a dismal run at the start of the season.
In August, the first month of the past season, City lost their opening three matches. The worst was to follow when City won one match out of seven in August.
Tinkler said that if he was at any other club he would have been fired because of these poor results. He hastened to add that because the City chairman John Comitis was a football-minded person, he persevered with the coach.
Tinkler added that Comitis, a former PSL player with Hellenic, Cape Town Spurs and Bidvest Wits, understood the dynamics of football.
Because Comitis was suitably equipped to make football sense of the situation he decided to persevere with Tinkler. Ten months later, Tinkler guided the team to a fourth-place finish in the Premiership and Comitis was a happy man.
All too often, clubs appoint coaches but the people who make the decisions are not equipped to make sound judgement. In PSL circles, the chairmen are usually the ones making decisions. Most are experienced businessmen but not necessarily successful businessmen.
The clubs that run professionally, are usually the most successful. In the PSL Sundowns is a classic example, and PSL chairman Irvin Khoza recently applauded the club for the way the club was run.
Khoza also deserves applause because his team achieved great success this season after they made a sound coaching appointment at the start of the season.
Pirates gave the coach, the little-known Spaniard José Riveiro the freedom to operate and accepted his chosen assistant, Sergio Almenara, also a Spaniard.
At the start, Riveiro was mocked as a ‘plumber’ for no rhyme or reason.
A few weeks later, he won the MTN8 final and later in the season he won the Nedbank Cup in his first job in Africa. He also guided Pirates back to the Champions League after a runner-up finish in the Premiership and was duly named as a contender for the ‘Coach of the Season’ award.
Those who are making the decisions to appoint coaches must realise that it is the quality of decision-making that is key. Club owners must call on football minds to decide on coaching appointments.
In this regard, the South African Football Association (SAFA) set a good example by calling in coaches, and former players a few years ago to decide on a coach, and their decision to appoint Hugo Broos turned out to be a sound one.
Let’s hope the local champion of hiring and firing coaches, Siviwe ‘Chippa’ Mpengesi – ye who made a whopping 28 coaching appointments at Chippa in 8 years, reads this story.
@Herman_Gibbs