Safa’s urgent search to fill post

SEVERAL high-profile names have emerged as possibilities to take over the technical director position as a clearer picture of the South African Football Association’s (Safa) search for a suitable candidate comes into focus.

The Safa emergency committee meets to discuss the increasingly urgent appointment on Friday and an insider identified Frenchman Gérard Houllier, Dutchman Guus Hiddink, outgoing Iran coach Carlos Queiroz, Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter and former Bafana Bafana captains Neil Tovey and Steve Komphela as the candidates who tick all the right boxes.

‘‘The successful candidate will get a five-year contract; one of the main requirements is that he must not have designs on the Bafana head coaching position,” the insider said.

Former Bafana coaches Ted Dumitru and Clive Barker will be added to the Safa technical committee to beef up the structure, dispelling the widely held belief that the veteran mentors were also being considered as potential candidates.

The search has certainly been laced with the same intriguing twists and turns that marked Safa’s pursuit of the Bafana coach last year. Houllier, Hiddink and Queiroz were also linked to the Bafana job last year before it eventually went to Ephraim ‘‘Shakes” Mashaba.

While Safa president Danny Jordaan insisted yesterday they are yet to approach any candidates, he said the new man is expected to be in office by July.

‘‘I do not want to pre-empt the discussion,” Jordaan said. ‘‘The discussion has to happen first and after that we will then set out the process, time frames and what we are going to do. But it is urgent. By around about July I’d say is the safer bet (for the appointment).

‘‘Of course it is depending on the candidate that is ap- proached and his work commitments. Depending on the person we identify and the commitments of that person.”

South African football is littered with examples of technical directors who suddenly decided that their own jobs were not challenging or glamourous enough and then proceeded to set their sights on the head coaching position.

Mashaba should sleep a lot more peacefully after Safa’s resolution to spell it out beforehand to all the interested parties that this career route towards the Bafana head coaching job will not be entertained.

According to the job specifications, the technical director will also be required to be someone who holds a university degree or an equivalent of a sports science qualification ‘‘and a relevant senior, technical and coaching background’’.

This person will be required to manage all the technical and development programmes of Safa.

The emergency committee will also discuss the finalisation of the opening of the R100-million national technical centre.

It depends on the candidate approached and his work commitments