All football coaches are on a hiding to nothing

The beauty about the turn of events in coaching personnel is that we are now starting to see the beauty of young coaches coming on board, but at the same time we can’t discard the older generation of coaches because they have the experience and the knowledge.

At this particular time we need to find the balance between the two. We need to find a way for the senior coaches to work with the younger coaches and we need to find a sound integration in the system because we need to find that balance.

Unfortunately, here at home, for so many years, we have had a tendency to praise coaches in pre-season, telling us we need to give them a chance, yet after two games they get dumped if they don’t do well. What we need is more patience from clubs and the fans because when the fans want results, they put pressure on management, and that leads to a club making decisions they themselves are not happy to make. But they are left with no choice but to succumb to the whims of the fans. At a later stage, we see those teams struggling and it becomes difficult to figure out what the main problem was.

To see the likes of Benni McCarthy and Faldu Davids going from being a top footballer into the coaching ranks, we really need younger guys who can bring in fresh energy and new ideas. The older guys possess the experience and knowledge, but at the end of the day there is not much difference. It is however always exciting to see younger guys grabbing their opportunities and getting involved.

The advantage with the new generation of coaches is that some of the players they will be coaching have seen them play in their heyday. Once you deal with someone whom you have seen play, it becomes easier to take on board what they say and it has a huge impact, as compared to someone whom they hadn’t seen and meet for the first time. It becomes somewhat of a disadvantage if you look at it closely, but again, it all depends on the quality of the coach.

We just need to strike a balance with the new dispensation, it is not a situation of out with the old and in with the new – not at all.

What has been lacking in our football is that we still haven’t found the right balance of having coaches working together earnestly and honestly. You find knowledgeable coaches who lack respect for the game and so the respect of the players is not there.

You find two senior coaches working together, but you also find the so-called technical director or the assistant coach being much closer to management, and then he begins to discuss issues he is not supposed to be engaging management on. That is where it goes wrong.

It may range from the team’s preparations and discussing such issues behind the coach’s back. By having such an attitude, we are shooting the industry in the foot and it will always remain a challenge to find the ideal match.

If you are to work with another coach, you must make sure you report to him. As coaches, we work together and, at times, we see situations differently, but as a coach, when you come in and impose

your philosophy and tactical organisation on someone else – which one may not be in favour of – he must make sure that when he takes that decision, it is binding, meaning we have to protect one another. From there on we will know we have taken a decision and it should stand. Whatever results come our way, everybody has to stand by those decisions and take them as a collective.

We have a tendency to take a collective decision, but when the results are not in our favour, there will be members who will want to throw the coach under the bus and say it was his philosophy, thereby shifting the blame.

That is one aspect that needs to be addressed by coaches individually so that when management comes in and tries to break the working relationship, they must find it difficult. Once we start to do that as coaches, it is then that management will begin to respect their coaches.