I’m an honest guy

“There is no way we can improve our football if we don’t study.”

“I couldn’t go to the next level with the players that I had.”

David Mathebula is a man big on loyalty. Most will associate his name with Kaizer Chiefs, not only because he proved himself a worthy midfielder during his time with the Soweto giants, but also that he spent all of seven years at Naturena. Yes, his playing career took him to different places thereafter, as it does to so many, and his fortunes were mixed. But towards the end of his career, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila gave the man known in football circles as “DVD” a feeling of belonging, such that when he retired, he found a seat on the Limpopo-based club’s bench. Even through the name change from Tshakhuma to Marumo Gallants, his position and standing remained unaffected. But that journey of five years has now come to an end, after Mathebula tendered his resignation as the club’s DStv Diski Challenge head coach following what has been a very poor season. There’s the WHY as to the team’s results, the HOW as to the arrival at that decision and the WHERE as to his next step. Soccer Laduma’s Delmain Faver finds out…

Delmain Faver: DVD, having spent five years at Marumo Gallants, from when they campaigned under the name Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, first as a player and then as a coach, how then did you come to the decision that parting ways with the club was the best thing to do?

David Mathebula:

I think as I’m still new in the coaching industry, I want to learn. I want to learn more things from the senior coaches. I follow a lot of coaches, like your coach Pitso (Mosimane). He is a top coach in South Africa, and obviously, we try to look at his work from (Mamelodi) Sundowns while he was here. Now we’re not seeing much of him because I see only the CAF games, but I mean, he impressed and challenged me personally. So, seeing him achieving what he is achieving, it means anything’s possible in football. But, having said that, in following other coaches, you need to see how they analyse games, and I’ve been fortunate to work with Sebastian (Mign ) from France. I worked with Sello Chokoe. I worked with Dylan Kerr. I was part of the team that won the Nedbank Cup. I mean, last season we saved the team, won the Nedbank Cup, so it was exciting. I was recently with coach Dan (Malesela) – unfortunately, I didn’t get an opportunity to work with him for long. But with the coaches that I’ve mentioned, I’ve learned a lot.

DF: Sure...

DM: The reason for me to leave… Look, in the DDC (DStv Diski Challenge), we were not getting results and I don’t want the boys to lose confidence and self-esteem, so I thought maybe change of personnel, as a head coach, will make a difference, difficult as it may be because, I mean, I created a bond with the boys. I think I’ve improved them tactically, understanding the positioning, whether during play or during set-play, the level of concentration at this level and also to try and improve their technique as well. I believe in playing and that if you want to win more matches in this modern day, you need to be a playing coach. Not just playing, it has to be structured as well. Players need to know what they have to do when they have the ball. So, tactically, I improved the team, yes, but results were not coming and I think I’m an honest guy. I try to be transparent. So, I said, “No, chairman, I think it’s time for me to go.”

DF: And what was his reaction?

DM: They (the club) understood my reasoning behind it because the team was losing a lot of matches. It was difficult to leave, especially the boys, because we have been working very hard and have been pushing and pushing, but the results were not coming. I’m a coach who wants to progress as well, so I felt like maybe I was stuck, I was not progressing in terms of results. But performance-wise, the team was getting better and better. I follow the PSL. I’m in South Africa… I mean, that’s the highest league in South Africa. I also have the privilege to watch European soccer and I admire the top coaches around the world, as I’ve spoken about coach Pitso. I have been following Stellenbosch FC and maybe a lot of people don’t see it, but they are a strong team, with maybe very few superstars. I mean, most of the players from Stellenbosch we don’t know, but if you can see what kind of football they display, they play with a lot of composure, both in attack and defence. I was fortunate last season that I met the coach, Steve Barker, and I said to him I could see he was dropping points, but they were creating a lot of chances. So, in saying that, I’m trying to say I follow local football a lot and I follow the coaches who take the game to the next level because football is all about analysing so that the teams can improve. I must analyse myself as a coach, analyse my players individually and then also you have to analyse the opponent so that the team can improve and you can get better and better as a coach and also improve the players. But I think now I couldn’t go to the next level with the players that I had or the situation that we were in. That’s why I decided to leave.

DF: Malesela has changed Marumo Gallants’ fortunes since coming in. What have you made of it?

DM: Yes, it was interesting to see the improvement in terms of keeping possession and in terms of getting results as well. Obviously, we want to play good football, possession-based football. I mean, globally, all the top teams that win the league, most of them are possession-based football teams. It’s a theme now. So, if you don’t keep the ball, if you don’t play well, chances of you winning are very minimal. But I see a lot of teams improving. For Sundowns to dominate, they must keep the ball more. I’m very analytical in what I do as a coach because I’m still a young coach who wants to improve, so I check a lot of things. How many entries do we have in a match? How many shots at goal do we have in a match? How many times does our winger take players on or play the ball inside the box? These are the things that I’m looking at. Yes, we keep possession, it’s impressive, but I look deeper into it because as a coach, I want to improve. I’m not looking at the game like a fan, I’m looking at the game like a coach, so I look at a game differently. But it’s been exciting to see the team getting points. It’s exciting to see the team keeping possession in most of the games. I think it’s impressive. He has changed the fortunes of the team.

DF: There seems to be a new generation of coaches coming through, in the form of yourself, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kurt Lentjies, Benson Mhlongo, etc. What does it mean for SA football when we have such young mentors bringing not only the experience you gained as a player, but also a fresh approach to the game?

DM: I think it’s a good thing for South Africa, but it doesn’t mean that we have to get rid of the current coaches who have been coaching for quite some time because they’ve been doing a good job. But now we need to take the game to the next level.

It might not make sense to the next person because… let’s say I’m coaching (in the) DDC, I’ve been losing some games, but I mustn’t lose myself, even if I lose the games, because what usually happens when you lose more games, now you want to win and now you change the approach and take the process out. So, when you take the process out, now you want to just get results. At the end of the day, the team won’t improve. So, it means I must get results. I must find a way of getting results with my approach. Using my method, I must get results because my method won’t only benefit me, it will also benefit the senior national team, because I must teach a defender to be able to play (the) offside (trap). How often do we see that in the PSL? It’s rare. Players play themselves offside, (it’s) not the opponents playing you offside. But if you can check Liverpool, check Man City, you will see they play someone offside. So, that’s the level that we need to get to and it’s good that young coaches now are coming in, and it’s good that we are studying because we need to study. There is no way we can improve our football if we don’t study, otherwise the game will keep on dropping. We need these current coaches to study more, to do research and to improve the game, and eventually we’ll see a better PSL in terms of how we play. Not that we’re not doing good, but we can still do better.

DF: What next then?

DM: For now, I’ll wait until next season. I just arrived in Jo’burg, so I’ll be with my family. Obviously, now I’ll have to take the kids to school. But there are schools in Jo’burg, I’ll get involved trying to help here and there. Also, my brother is coaching a SASOL League team, so I’ll also go and assist in order to keep going and keep learning as well because we learn every day in this game. But the only thing I do try to do is to watch PSL games and analyse the coaches, analyse what they are doing because the behaviour of the players on the field of play tells me what kind of coach is taking care of that team. I believe I’m able to see what’s happening on the other side by looking only at your players playing on the field of play. So, I’ll keep watching the game, trying to improve myself, trying to read more. We have a lot of books these days. I mean, most of the coaches have got books (autobiographies), so we’ll try to read and figure out what they’re doing as well. The only thing that helps me is watching more games and being able to analyse what the other coaches are doing, but I just hope I’ll get another opportunity sooner so that I can be able to take care of the future of South African football because I believe I’m capable of doing that.

DF: We can’t wait to see where you land up next, coach. Thanks and good luck!

DM: Thank you. I just want to thank the chairman (Abram Sello) for entrusting me with this project, especially the DDC because it’s the future of the club. I mean, that platform is what we’re looking for. So, I thank him for that, and for the support as well because they’ve been supportive. Thanks also to the technical team that I’ve been working with, the support staff. I think they’ve been good to me for the entire season. Also, coach Mpho Maleka… when the team came to Louis Trichardt, when they changed ownership, he came with them. I think it played a part in me being part of the team, and he has been supportive in the DDC as well. We talked football and spent a lot of time together. I think he’s the guy who’s been helping a lot in terms of pushing the DDC team and I thank him a lot for that. Thanks to the senior players as well because they’ve been supportive, very supportive. The senior team players sometimes came and watched our games and they gave their views and opinions as well. The family of Marumo, I thank all of them!