On what the secret is The Chairman would have been unfair…
We now speak with coach Pitso Dladla as he reveals the factors, in his own words, that have led to their surprising start to the season and lavishes praise on his co-coach Vasili Manousakis, while opening up on the support received from club boss Jomo Biy
Look, there’s no secret. It all started during pre-season training. We worked very hard and if I may use the word ‘secret’, it was the Chairman himself because during the previous season in the NFD, he made mention that this was important for us because it could change our lives and he was planning to keep most of us, and that this was also about the community of King Cetshwayo. During that time, he invested all his energies and all his resources to make sure that the team got promoted. Why I’m taking you back is because when we got promoted, he did not relax and say, ‘I got what I wanted’, but he encouraged us to work even harder. During pre-season, we had enough time, and we are blessed to be a team here in KZN because there were some pre-season tournaments like the Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Cup and the Premier’s Cup that were very competitive. We invited Mamelodi Sundowns and we played against them; we played against AmaZulu FC. We wanted to see if we could make it or not. But at the end of the day, the friendly games are different. We also tried to enhance all the departments. In management, we brought in James Dlamini in the technical team, we brought in coach Vasili and we brought in experienced players. All these things formed the secret you ask about.
On the addition of Manousakis
All of us as a technical team promoted the team. There’s coach Ron Gabriel, Vusumuzi Magagula, Sibusiso Msomi and me. I understand when you refer to me. I’d love to be referred to as a group, but I know it’s not easy. When it comes to coach Vasili, it was very important for me as an individual to embrace him and allow him to feel at home because the most important thing was for me to understand the initiative behind bringing coach Vasili, and I can tell you I think the Chairman would have been unfair if he did not bring me anyone to help. DStv Premiership is not child’s play, let’s be honest. Let me tell you, him coming as a technical advisor was not going to work out. We spent one week with him and we went to meet him as a technical team and we showed him how we worked last season and how we are planning to work this season. Then he came with his suggestions and then he told us that this is how it works in the DStv Premiership because a lot of things changed for us. Remember there is periodisation where you play weekend and midweek, sometimes at 15h00, sometimes at 17h00, and we could see that the guy is very knowledgeable and there is no position that would have worked better for him than being the co-head coach because now it means that he had to be free with the training sessions. If you had to see the training sessions he conducts, it’s beautiful, it’s modern training sessions. We also come with our ideas and I think we gel so well. The most important thing was for me to realise what he is bringing into the team and also to embrace him and make him feel free. He adapted here within two weeks and felt at home and it’s not only with him, everybody that is joining us, especially the players, it is my duty to make sure that everyone is embraced and welcome. Another thing that is important is that Richards Bay have got a culture. There is a blueprint. Even when I came here, I did not come to change what Richards Bay are doing, but I came to work with what they’ve got here and to improve it. Now, it became easier between him and I because he did not come here and we sat down and decided how we were gonna play and what the methodology was, no. That was already there.
On what they want to achieve this season
It is important for us to remain humble, to be grounded and to know that the league is a marathon. In football, anything can change at any time. We remain cautious because normally in our league, if you’ve got 18 points, you are in second place, but if you look at number 15 or 16, those teams wouldn’t have nine points. They would struggle and maybe have five points. Teams, as much as they are down there, they are collecting
points because the team that is last has nine points and
we have 18 – that tells you that it’s just three games, so we are
very cautious of that. What we are doing as a team is that we are forgetting about positions, we’ve divided the league into a mini league of five games and we’ve got points that we are targeting. If we can achieve that as a team, I’m sure we’ll survive. As things stand, 30 points may not be enough to ensure you safety, you might need 36 because teams are collecting points. So, it’s a different league and we are very cautious of that, but at the end of the day, we want to collect points that will guarantee us safety as quick as possible and if we get that with a few games remaining, why don’t we push for a respectful position, which in this league is a Top Eight finish for a team like us. But first things first, we need to save the status.