Leopards must hunt for players prudently

Jomo Sono was not off the mark when he said Black Leopards will need to reinforce the team after they gained promotion to the Absa Premiership (PSL) following an impressive run to see off Jomo Cosmos and Platinum Stars in the play-offs.

But I don’t think Leopards will need to bring in an awful lot of players. What they can do is bring a few players who have top-flight experience.

Most importantly, they need to access players in terms of their mental state and equip them that they are about to embark on a bigger journey.

Going up against the so-called big guns in the Absa Premiership, Leopards will need to improve their tactical and technical contribution, because they need to make sure their players maintain and improve their performance.

At this stage, as it is the period of coming and going of players – their scouting has to be spot on because there is no point in recruiting a number of experienced PSL players who have been discarded by their own teams.

They need to bring on board players who will be influential, add value and improve Leopards.

Looking at the current squad, I would say about 95% of the team already qualifies to play in the elite league.

They just need a few players who will add value, especially on the mental side because mental strength is one of the driving forces behind a successful team.

If they have two or three mentally tough players, that mentality is likely to rub off on the rest of the team and that can only be a good recipe because they need to have players who will provide leadership.

One thing that is important is that Lidoda Duvha, together with Highlands Park, should try their best to stay in the top flight next season so we can do away with the trend of having teams gaining promotion only be relegated two seasons later.

Teams that have developed their philosophy while playing in the National First Division and when they get promoted, don’t change or divert too much from their philosophy, tend to last longer in the elite league.

But once a team gets into the top flight and discards their philosophy because of the hype of playing in the PSL – which also extends to the misleading notion of adding a lot of players and discarding the old players who are the reason behind the team’s promotion – they are bound for failure.

When you look at teams like Baroka FC, Polokwane City, and Chippa United – the teams that have been promoted into the PSL in the past five seasons – they have not changed their philosophy. All they did was add a few players to help them maintain their playing identity.

Although it did not work out that well for Chippa at the start, they eventually got it right and have been doing well in going about sustaining their status in the top flight.

Another way to protect the status is to aim higher than just looking to stay in the top flight. It is not wrong to come out and say you want to finish in the top eight or want to finish in the top three. Yes, in some instances it may not be practical, but being ambitious can only set up a team for success.

Lastly, there is the issue of disqualifying the Thohoyandou Stadium for PSL games and rendering it surplus to requirements.

If I had the chance to whisper into Leopards chairman David Thidiela’s ear, I would advise him to speak to the municipality and sponsors to lend a hand and help upgrade the stadium.

By playing there, bigger crowds will be attracted. If they take the games more than 200km away from the community, that will be killing the sport.