Sir, that’s not legacy!

Steve Komphela is without a doubt one of South Africa’s top coaches, but he has often borne the brunt of critics, some of them of the armchair kind, for the fact that he has not won a trophy as a coach at club level. Despite this, the sweettongued former Bafana Bafana captain has kept on giving his best to the game, cognizant of the saying, “Sticks and stones

may break my bones, but words don’t

hurt me.” And words kept being flung at him, some of them unprintable, during his time at Kaizer Chiefs, for lack of trophies in the Soweto giants’ cabinet. Indeed, it was only when objects resembling sticks and stones were hurled at him, in what were ugly scenes at Moses Mabhida Stadium one Saturday evening, that he gave in. The then, 52-year-old, though, has done well since holding it down at Bloemfontein Celtic

Tshepang Mailwane: Hello, coach, and thanks for your time. Let’s start with how lockdown has been for you and having had to adjust to a different life.

Steve Komphela:

It’s the same thing that we normally do from a team point of view. We wake up and have our training at 09h00 (via Zoom) and it will take us about an hour or an hour-and-a-half. From there, we are done for the day. We have only one session a day. After that, the time is for us and that’s where I will get some time to do a small workout where I can read books or write whatever I have to write, just to keep having a day that has a programme that is running. Because if you don’t have a programme running, your head will just spin. No human being lives in a vacuum.

TM: How has the lockdown affected you as a coach, as you are not on the field having a good look at the players?

SK:

For me, the biggest challenge, on behalf of the players, is trying to gauge and think about how they feel wherever they are. When they are with us, I know for sure what’s happening and I know where they are at. And you can tell by their level of engagement and focus that they are with you. But my biggest challenge has been to wonder what happens when they are outside our platform. So, the biggest concern during this lockdown had not been personal per se. Personally, I am okay and I am running a programme that’s fulfilling and helping me to focus on things that need to be done. So, the biggest challenge was that: can players cope?

TM: There’s been a lot of debate as to what should happen with how the league should finish. What would be fair, in your opinion?

SK:

My comment would be based on what does (the) Coronavirus present to us. If (the) Coronavirus presents an opportunity to play football, then we would wish to complete the season on the park. But if (the) Coronavirus is so severe that we cannot finish football on the park, then we have to use a lot of innovative ways of ending the season in a manner that will show of maturity and rationale. There’s been lots of models that have been drawn. Eredivisie was cancelled; in Belgium and France, the teams were given the title. You look at those conditions … what where the stakes? You look at the Absa Premiership currently, with respect to Orlando Pirates, Bidvest Wits, SuperSport United and all those behind (them). Looking at Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns, there’s a gap of four points. Mamelodi Sundowns still has to play Kaizer Chiefs. Whatever decision has to be taken, then those considerations are made. Another thing is that if you look at it and ask anybody to say between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns, who would you

want to see win the championship? Pitso (Mosimane) and Sundowns want ‘La Decima’, which is the 10th league title. You’d wish to see that happen for him. But then when you go to Chiefs, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary. So, you’d say either of the two, who is more deserving? It’s a challenge. Based on that, would you then give it to Mamelodi Sundowns or give it to Kaizer

Chiefs because they are on top of the log? That’s something else. How I wish conditions of this Coronavirus could be so clear that we afford teams to play the game, so that there are no silent voices or comments after what has been for 2019/20.

TM: What’s the situation with salaries at Golden Arrows? Have you as a team been affected by this?

SK:

Not yet. I think the business models of the clubs talk a lot with regards to this. Maybe one of the lessons, not only in business, but to us in football, is understand the length of your blanket. Sometimes the ambitious business models are the ones that make us suffer and suffocate. Arrows have not been through that, so could it be that Golden Arrows had a business model that was sensible and spoke to the size of their blanket. Sometimes we tend to be so emotional and so ambitious as clubs and say, “I want to have (Thabo) Matlaba in my team. I want Siyabonga Nkosi in my team. I want to have Doctor Khumalo in my team.” Then the salary bill is so high and you are literally on the brink of disaster, but you keep praying. When tragedy like this strikes, then it exposes you terribly. Then the lesson is that know the size of your blanket.

TM: Makes perfect sense. SK:

I’m not general manager, I’m no CEO and I’m no club boss, but if you know how much money you make, you can therefore draw a business plan that talks to how much expenditure you engage in. You cannot spend more than what you make. I think Golden Arrows has managed to say, “This is the size of our blanket and, as a result, this is how far we will go.” The team never overstretched themselves. Teams sometimes overstretch themselves based on their planning. They plan hard, to say, “I would rather spend more and stay in the league.” They go for this expenditure, hoping to acquire a certain number of players based on their skills and abilities. If there’s no return on investment on such acquired skill, then you hit disaster. There are clubs that had been lucky and there was a return on investment and then there are clubs that you look at the squad and say, “Let’s be realistic.” If you look at the value of the squad on paper, does it really give the same quality of results on the pitch? If not, then it becomes a scenario where you over-invested because there’s no return coming out of your investment.