De Jongh concerned with players’ mental health
IMAGES showing the late Adam Ndlovu in action, during his trial period at Manchester United, have finally emerged.
Some critics have questioned whether the Zimbabwe football legend, who died after the car he was travelling in veered off the road and crashed into a tree in December 2012, actually had trials at the Red Devils.
The Herald have all along argued that Ndlovu had an attachment at England’s biggest football club at a time Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a forward to provide the X-Factor for the team.
The legendary Scotsman ended up
PREMIERSHIP side, CAPS United and Black Rhinos, have already activated systems to find alternative corporate partners following the withdrawal by their principal sponsors, NetOne.
The pair, though, are not reducing wages for their staff as yet.
NetOne withdrew their financial commitment to football last week to refocus on fighting against the coronavirus pandemic.
The mobile telecommunication giant have been bankrolling CAPS United, Black Rhinos, Highlanders as well as relegated Chapungu United.
The sponsors advised the two giants they will continue to sponsor them for the remainder of this year but the relationship will end a year before its scheduled ending.
CAPS United and Rhinos yesterday indicated they were not chopping any salaries for their staff.
A Green Machine source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said although there were considerations being made on that front, salaries
FC PLATINUM coach, Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh, says he has put in place different strategies to help deal with his players’ mental state as soon as local football is allowed back.
The country’s most popular sport, along with other games, has been put on hold due to the novel coronavirus epidemic.
The 2020 Premiership season had to be shelved when it was about to start back in March and the only feasible date for its return, as indicated by ZIFA, could be around August/ September.
Though players have been training alone, at their respective homes, owing to the nationwide lockdown, De Jongh is concerned with the mental battering the players are enduring.
The Dutch trainer said it will take a lot of resources, and effort, to condition the players’ mentality when football is finally allowed back.
“Thumbs up to the Government for the measures they have put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic,’’ he said.
“This is a health emergency that deserves the treatment it is getting, especially in this country.
“As football people, we are fully behind the measures put in place, including the national lockdown.
“Ours is a sport that flourish with a crowd in attendance and it is prudent for the playing staff, technical personnel and spectators to be in good health.
“The priority at the moment is not football but life.
“But, with indications the league could be back in August/September, I should highlight that my main worry is on the mentality of my players. settling for Frenchman, Eric Cantona, who became a huge influence at Old Trafford, leading the Red Devils to glory on a number of fronts.
Cantona was lured from Leeds United.
“Adam was only 20 when he attracted the interests of Coventry City and went there on a six-week attachment, with Claudius Zviripayi, where he impressed the then Sky Blues’ manager, Peter Sillett, who had already made a decision to sign Peter Ndlovu,’’ this newspaper reported after Adamski died.
“Adam came back home, not because he wasn’t good enough to sign for Coventry City then, but simply because haven’t been reviewed downwards, as of now.
“These are difficult times we find ourselves in,” the source said.
“There have been serious considerations to cut the wage bill. NetOne have withdrawn their sponsorship.
“The company has been bailing the team out, in terms of paying salaries for the staff members.
“Talks are going on as the team is reaching out to its employees with that proposal but, definitely, no salaries have been trimmed, as of now.
“Each employee has been receiving what is on their contracts.”
The same source said, if the salaries were going to be reduced, it will be about three months from now.
There are also reports the Green Machine are also engaging NetOne as to find the best way to handle the divorce.
Black Rhinos said the welfare of their employees remained a priority and they were not going to cut their salaries anytime soon.
Team spokesperson, Edward Mutukwa, who is also fronting efforts
“The most important thing in life is mental health and, for players, it cannot be over-emphasised.”
De Jongh said if the CAF Champions League, which his team will be taking part in for the fourth season running, gets underway around August/September and this could even complicate things for them.
“I am one man who never worries about how tough football is. I am ready for anything but, the mental state of my players is of utmost importance to the team’s success, both locally and internationally.
“We will do everything to prepare the team for the games, in terms of physical fitness, but imagine what will be going on in their minds.
“There will be fears that they will contract the virus. There will be worries they would have lost their loved ones, so many things will be playing out in their minds.”
With the prospect of the games being played before empty stands, De Jongh said his players, as well as those from other clubs, will need proper mental guidance if they are navigate that unfamiliar terrain.
“Yes, you look at Zimbabwean football, there has not been many games played behind closed doors but that could be happening.
“Although there are teams in the league which do not normally play before many people, the reason will not be because people have not been allowed in.
“But, the fact that this time they would have been denied entry due to the pandemic, will also stick around in the players’ minds. That will be difficult.
“We need to unite and come up with a strategy to address this whole mental issue.” the board of directors at the Sky Blues had made a decision that they could only let their coach sign one of the two brothers.
“It wasn’t an easy era, back then, for black players, coming straight from Africa, to make an impression on a coach of an English Premiership club.
“The good African players who had ventured into Europe then had gone to France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, while England, isolated from mainland Europe by the channel, was virgin territory for the boys from the mother continent.
“There was an element of doubt, when it came to African players, which to get new sponsors on board, said the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought football activities to a halt, has hit them hard.
“It’s not a secret that if things remain the way they are, we will be forced to compromise on salaries.
‘’But, at the moment, we haven’t considered reducing staff salaries.
“Look, nobody ever predicted we would be in a situation that we find ourselves in at the moment. We are trying to keep our staff happy.
“Remember, they are performing some roles, the coach and his fitness trainers are ever busy, tracing progress made by the players online.
“That’s a lot of work on their part and, on the part of the players. But, we will obviously have to look at it if the season is delayed beyond the scheduled August/September.”
The 2020 Premiership, which was initially scheduled to start in March, has been frozen until, at least, August/ September.
But, that is also subject to approval by relevant authorities including Government, FIFA and CAF, who ZIFA are consulting for guidelines.
Mutukwa has appealed to ZIFA and the PSL to consider, in future, levying clubs and set aside funds which could bail them out in case of such challenges.
“This pandemic is something unprecedented but I am sure it has opened a lot of eyes.
“Authorities, including ZIFA and the PSL, should consider levying clubs and setting aside the funds to help out in easing such pandemics.” lived in the minds of English Premiership coaches then, about their pedigree, their discipline, would they adjust to playing football in those brutal winter conditions, would they be accepted by their teammates at a time when a good chunk of professional footballers in England were a group of drunkards who behaved as if they ruled the world?
“Crucially, would they be accepted by the fans, many of whom were blatantly racist.’’
Sillet confirmed he wanted to sign Adamski.
“I wanted to sign both of them (Adam and Peter), but the board would only let me sign one, and I went for Peter,” Sillett told BBC Sport.
“Adam went off to Switzerland and had a good career but Peter was the most talented player I have ever seen. They were both cracking lads, and were very, very close as brothers.”
While, the story that Adamski almost signed for Coventry City has never been doubted, that he was good enough to be invited for trials at Old Trafford has been questioned by many.
“Chances are that he would have signed for the Red Devils but for the arrival, on the market, of a certain genius called Eric Cantona who would get the place and, in the process, shift the balance of power in English football from Anfield to Old Trafford,’’ this newspaper reported.
“The European clubs simply couldn’t resist him and invitations for trials came from all over the places and he went to Sweden, Denmark, back to England, Greece, Germany and even to Turkey where he had trials at Galatasaray long before Norman Mapeza came in and became the first Zimbabwean to play in the Turkish top-flight league.
“Adamski eventually settled in Switzerland and in ’97, three years after his arrival, he was voted Player of the Year after his 14 goals for Delemont won him the Golden Boot, took his team to the semi-finals of the Swiss Cup and brought him to the attention of
FC Zurich who took him on board.’’
Now, for the first time ever, images have emerged showing that, indeed, Adamski had a month-long trial period at Old Trafford at the turn of the ‘90s.
This will, in a way, end the debate, especially among those who have been questioning whether this was, indeed, true.
The images show the Zimbabwe international playing in a match which also features Nicky Butt, one of the members of the Class of ’92, which had the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers — Gary and Phil.
Butt went on to win six league titles at United in ’96, ’97, ’99, 2000, 2001 and 2003 and three FA Cup winners medals in ’96, ’99 and 2004.
He also won the UEFA Champions League in 1999.
Butt is now head of the first team development at United and reports directly to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.