The war between local clubs and their coaches

By Spira-Spira



Former Mochudi Centre Chiefs head Coach Dragojlo Stanojlovic.
The Kgatleng side parted ways with the Serbian after a series of
poor results. 

The role of a coach is very important otherwise clubs wouldn’t spend so much money and a lot of time finding good coaches.

Local clubs go worldwide searching for the most successful coaches who can bring success to their clubs.  However, our clubs do not understand that coaches cannot bring success overnight.The position of a coach is challenging and multi-faceted. A coach has a lot of duties among them parenting, teaching, counselling, disciplining, and organizing the players.

Therefore coaches need time to improve, shape and balance the players into a formidable team. Nevertheless some local clubs do not understand how demanding the role of a coach can be. They want results as soon as possible. They expect silverware to start flowing in immediately the coach has been appointed. They forget that the role of the coach is to develop players. Player development is essential to a coach’s success and that takes time.

Recently local coaches especially in the premier league have been at war with their employers. The main reason behind this warfare is poor performance on the side of coaches. Not a long time ago, Gaborone United suspended their head Coach Major David Bright and the club did not state the reasons behind the suspension.

Just recently, Mochudi Centre Chiefs gave their head Coach Dragojlo Stanojlovic an indefinite leave due to a series of poor performances. The club was knocked out of the domestic cup Mascom Top 8, and the continental cup CAF champions’ league respectively. Drago as he is well known was appointed at the beginning of the season as a replacement for current Township Rollers coach Madinda Ndlovu who won the league twice with the club.

The above mentioned scenarios show that local clubs are impatient when it comes to coaches. They never give coaches a chance to seek new ideas to develop their knowledge of the game and players.

While greatcoaches might often shine through whatever the environment, some need time to adjust to a particular setting. What makes a good soccer coach is not what he achieves instantly but is how much he achieves in long period of time. A coach has to be given time to develop a relationship with his players because that is where results come.

Perhaps local clubs should learn from successful clubs in countries like England. Before he retired, former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson stayed with the club from 1986 until he retired last year. There were seasons in which he didn’t win anything but the club did not fire him. At the end of his career he won 40 titles including 13 premier league titles which made him the most success manager in British football history.

One other example is Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who has spent so many seasons without silverware but the club believes in him. He is the longest serving manager and has been the manager of Arsenal since 1996. Fans have called for his dismissal as a result of poor performances but he is still standing.

There are many other examples of coaches who had coached the same club for more than ten years. Clubs need to understand that if you develop a player at the age of ten, he needs 7-10 years to reach his best. Therefore, if coaches come and go, players can never really develop.

Football is a business, everyone knows that but developing players into a strong team would be better if it was not results orientated. Coaches should be given a chance to apply their tactics without fear of failure. The coach needs many skills and qualities that have to be acquired over a period of time. Botswana football can never reach a level of professionalism if our clubs keep on fighting with the same coaches they hired.