Tinkler has no doubt he’s made the right call
Michaelson Gumede
New SuperSport United coach Eric Tinkler (left) said the only difficulty he encountered when he was approached for the Matsantsantsa job was that his family had already relocated with him to the Cape where he was in charge of Premier Soccer League debutants Cape Town City.
“It was a difficult decision for me to make because my family had moved down to Cape Town,” he told Phakaaathi.
However, from a footballing point of view, the former Orlando Pirates mentor has no doubt that swapping the Mother City for the capital is the right move.
“In terms of what type of club SuperSport are and the history the club has had and the success, it wasn’t a hard decision,” he said.
Tinkler will have to wait until July 1 before he can take his new team through their paces. However, goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse said the players have already welcomed the coach and are looking forward to beginning a new journey with him.
“The guys have really welcomed him well and we are happy to have a new coach. Coach Tinkler is a great coach and he told us he wants to achieve more. That is what the team is looking for. We want to achieve things and win trophies,” the shot-stopper told the paper.
Tinkler, much like SuperSport, is ambitious, and Pieterse believes Tinkler’s experience in the Caf Confederation Cup will clearly benefit the club as they are in pole position to advance out of the group stages of the continental competition.
“It goes hand-in-hand, we need to help him as well because he will help us with his experience on the continent and we also need to bring something to the table in order to achieve our goals.”
The former Bafana Bafana midfielder has had a taste of a Confederation Cup final with Pirates in 2015, and will be looking to guide United to a maiden continental title.
“SuperSport are doing exceptionally well on the continent at the moment, they can get good results and find themselves getting into finals.
“My objective is to share that … go to SuperSport and win trophies, and if we find ourselves in those situations, we need to try and win it,” Tinkler said.