What reputation?

“Once they cross that white line, it’s all down to them.”

It was on again, off again and back on, but Dylan Kerr is finally the head coach of DStv Premiership newcomers Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC, who have experienced a turbulent first season since buying their way into the topflight. Even with a new owner, Dr Abram Sello, sweeping clean amidst all the controversy the club has been embroiled in, and a well-respected coach in Kerr delivering results, albeit from behind the bench, Vhadau Vha Damani have it all to do if they are to hold onto their status in the league. To their credit, the club has made it to the final of the Nedbank Cup, which they will contest against Chippa United on May 8. In this interview with Delmain Faver, the outspoken former Arcadia Shepherds winger leaves little to the imagination as he opens up about his inner workings as a coach, the one game where he believes TTM didn’t show up and issues a stern warning to a certain breed of players: go and work at KFC!

Delmain Faver: Coach, congratulations! You’re finally the head coach of Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC…

Dylan Kerr: Yes, just waiting on the work permit.

DF: How far is your work permit from being ready?

DK: Well, we’re just waiting for a few things to come through. All the paperwork has been submitted and everything has been done, so we’re just waiting.

DF: It was quite a protracted saga, to the extent that, at one stage, we weren’t sure whether it would officially happen. You did well in your advisory role and becoming the official coach must have been somewhat of a relief to you.

DK: Yeah. I mean, it was just a case of getting everything over the line. Again, you know, from the club’s point of view, we’d agreed that I would take charge until the end of the season, and just a few things needed sorting out in the contract. And that was it.

DF: But were there fears from your side that perhaps it wouldn’t happen? There were times when it looked like it was unlikely, especially with other candidates, like Luc Eymael, being linked with the job.

DK: No, not really. Me and the chairman (Dr Abram Sello) had an understanding about how everything was going to work, you know, and it’s been really, really healthy, the way we’ve been working together. So, it was just a matter of getting everything organised and sorted. We agreed that let’s sign until the end of the season, let’s try and keep them in the league, try and keep going to the semi-finals, which we did in the Nedbank (Cup), and then take it from there at the end of the season. If he is happy and I am happy, then then we sit down and we discuss the way forward for the football club.

DF: Makes sense. Have you been happy with the output you’ve received from the players so far?

DK: I come to work to enjoy my day’s training, and I leave work knowing that I’ve been fulfilled by the players’ attitude and performance in training. I just wish they would replicate what we do on the field in training to the field in game situations, because what I see daily is hard-working, energetic, enthusiastic players that do not want to lose games. If we can transfer that not just into the league, but into the Nedbank Cup as well, you know, I think we’ve got a lot of potential. And I’ve said from day one, as I have done in my previous clubs, you know: you’ve got to make something of your lives, make something of your careers. It’s not all about driving a fast car and buying nice clothes. It’s about winning things and one of the things that I am proud of and that I like to put the message out is that, you know, I’m a winner. I’ve never lost anything. I’ve never been relegated. I won things with the teams I’ve been with. Even though I didn’t win anything with Baroka FC and Black Leopards, I kept them in the PSL (topflight). When I joined the club, they were both bottom of the league (table), and so was TTM, and to keep the status (of the club in the league) is more than sometimes winning the league or winning a cup.

DF: Is that what you’ve been mandated to do by the chairman, keep the team in the elite division?

DK: No, he’s not given me a mandate. Obviously, he wants to keep the franchise. He’s paid a lot of money for it. He wants to keep his franchise. When I took over, they were bottom of the league, so, obviously, he spent a lot of money for the club and he wants to keep it in the Premier League because that’s where his money is going to come from. So, while there has been no mandate, the only reason I’m coming here is to try and keep them in the PSL. I’m going to get labelled as a coach that, you know, keeps teams in the PSL if I do this for the third time and I said to the players I don’t want that. I want to be a coach that is challenging in the top three, not struggling in the bottom three every year.

DF: What do you think was the problem?

DK: I just trust my players, you know. At the end of the day, if you trust the players and you believe in your players, then you will get a response out of them. I treat them like human beings, you know, people. I don’t treat them like footballers. There’s a difference between management and coaching and coaching and playing, and you’ve got to have a fine balance between that. And, at the end of the day, I’m responsible for the wellbeing of the staff, wellbeing of the technical team and, most importantly, I’m responsible for making the players happy. If you’ve got a happy squad and happy players, then they will run through brick walls for you. Because you’re on their side, you’re trying for them. There’s a lot of interference from outside, from people talking, you know, different things and sometimes that goes against what you’re trying to build. Because, in my experience as a player, both in South Africa, and in the UK, it’s all about team spirit. It’s all about togetherness. The first day, I came to training, I looked at the squad and I thought, ‘Hmmm, this is not bad. This is not a bad squad.’ But they weren’t together, they were too individualistic. There was no cohesion with them. They had their own agendas, and one of them was obviously from the previous owner getting the financial stuff sorted. And I had to tell them, ‘You deal with that, but you make sure that you don’t forget about what you’re here to do.’ When we won the first game, I knew then that these players believed in what I was trying to preach to them, which was go and enjoy the game, play with a smile and do your best. That’s all you can ask for. And if you lose, you lose to a better team. You don’t lose because you’ve got things on your mind or somebody is influencing you from outside. Because that’s what a lot of people do in this country. They listen to people that don’t know the game, have never played the game. But they’re always advising, they’re always talking and telling people, ‘You should do this, you should do that’, and it upsets them. The only people they need to trust is myself, my technical team and themselves, and if they do that, then they will get better. Remember, and I’ll give you a big example… If you look at Jurgen Klopp, he never won a trophy in three years for Liverpool. Then he won the Champions League, then he won the EPL. Right? It took him four years – that’s how long. When Pep Guardiola came, he didn’t win the Premier League straight away. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t win the Premier League straight away. Jose Mourinho didn’t win the Premier League straight away. It took time because you’ve got to build the team. You bring in the players that you can add to your jigsaw and the pieces that don’t fit, you move on. That’s what I’ve always believed in because it’s worked for me as a player when I played back in the day.

DF: Would you say bringing that cohesion is why we’ve seen a lot of individuals starting to stand out with their performances?

DK: You hit the nail on the head. Again, it’s trust. I mean, when we go out to play, the only game that we’ve not played is (Mamelodi) Sundowns (in the league). We didn’t turn up, you know. We took the lead, we conceded a goal right before halftime, and it killed us. It actually killed us. I don’t know if it was fear or we respected them too much. Don’t take anything away from Sundowns, who played really, really well. We were giving them instructions to go and play their way, but play the way that we want to play as a unit, and they will shine because they are better players. Because we’ve got that camaraderie. Keeping that camaraderie is very, very difficult when financial issues come into play, when players are complaining about bonuses, you know. Little things like that are huge in the way that teams look in Africa, and as I said to them, a bonus is a bonus and it’s up to the chairman. If he thinks that you deserve that bonus, he will give you a bonus. You can’t ask for a bonus because it doesn’t take a week’s wages off you if you don’t win a game. So, we all know how financially motivated these players are. I’ve never been financially motivated to play, I just wanted to earn things. I wanted my name to be remembered because I’m going to die one day and I want people to look back in the annals of football history and see that Dylan Kerr won a trophy with Leeds (United), with Gor Mahia, saved Black Leopards from relegation, saved Gor Mahia back to the championship, you know. That’s what it’s all about. Because you’re a long time dead (by then). And I’ve got no family, there’s only me now. I’ve got no children of my own. So, the only people who are going to be remembering me are the football fanatics, and I’d rather do that than earn thousands and thousands and thousands and win nothing.

DF: Do you think there’s a need to find the balance between the ambition to win things and securing oneself financially?

DK: Look, you’re not going to be financially secure if you’re not winning things. You can go on and get relegated. If this squad gets relegated, I would say 95% of them are going to be looking for work. Where are they going to be looking? Maybe one or two, maybe 5% of that team will stay in the PSL. Maybe the older players will have to retire because nobody respects that. Even though they are fit and they are playing well, they look at their age… 35, 36… and the financial burden that it will cost with these experienced players. They’ll go for a younger player who costs nearly a 10th of what they’re on. So, to get success and to earn a good living, you’ve got to be in the top league, you’ve got to play with the top teams. Now, if you look at the way TTM were bought and it all went pear-shaped, the chairman’s taken a big gamble with his own money and he has bought the club, and he wants to build this club into a big footballing brand. He wants

to get rid of the negativity of criticism that Limpopo-based clubs get daily. He wants to take them in a different direction and he wants to take them up the table, and the only way you can do that is if you’ve got the best players, the best attitudes and the best characters. I said my football team is like a jigsaw and every piece has to fit. It doesn’t matter who you bring in or how good he is or who’s told you he is a good player, if that piece doesn’t fit into your jigsaw, you’ll never make him fit. And if you do try that (to make him fit even though he doesn’t fit), then it will upset your picture and the picture will start to crack and break, and that’s when the results go the wrong way. So, we’ve got to change the mentality or the way that they think at this club. We’ve got to go on a path that is the right path, not deviate left, deviate right, do a U-turn. We’ve got to keep moving forward and make sure that we try and produce talented individuals from the Limpopo area that can represent the football club, wear the football clubs badge with honour and with pride.

DF: Will TTM survive relegation this season?

DK: I would say yes, but in football, you don’t want to tempt fate. But I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that I could, keep the team in the Premier League. The outside influence and the problems that have been here from before I came in, it’s still taking time to sort out. It’s about making sure that it doesn’t affect my team and my players and my staff, but it is doing (so) and it’s tough. But I believe these players are behind me, I believe these players trust me and I believe these players want to stay in the PSL. Now doing it is down to them. Once they cross that white line, it’s all down to them. When I first came to TTM, I got criticised by a lot of people and even close personal friends said I was making a huge mistake and it would spoil my reputation. My one answer was: what reputation? I haven’t got a reputation, you know. I don’t have a reputation. All I have is a squad of players that I believe have got the ability and they’ve got the attitude to not only stay up in the PSL, but (to) also try and win the final of the Nedbank Cup. Again, I just want to make sure I manage this the best way I know so (that) they’re able to fulfil this and do it the best way, and the best way is make sure you’re remembered as not being a losing semi-finalist, but a finalist with an opportunity to beat Chippa in the final because if you beat Sundowns, the cup final is going to be 10 times as hard because the reward is obviously R7 million. Plus, you’re representing South Africa in the Confederation Cup. If that’s not the biggest reward ever in football, walk away now and go drive a taxi or work at KFC or be a gardener. Because if that doesn’t give you motivation or give you something to aim for, leave football. Football is not for you. Go do something else. ❐