The story behind the scenes

What interference means for coaches

Coaches in the PSL are given mandates by club owners, but according to information given to this publication, they are not given freedom to do their jobs. This is a concern for quite a few coaches in the league. Some stay in the job because they need it, while others are bold enough to say that the situation is not working for them.

A source, who has seen first-hand how the jobs of coaches are made even more difficult by interference, said, “That’s why you see some of the coaches don’t get fired, because the chairman knows that he is the one picking the team. They will wait for the coaches to resign. I think this issue needs to be resolved. Sometimes it’s up to the coaches. Coaches need to have balls to say, You hired me to do a job, and not for you to pick the team.’ You can’t give a coach a mandate if you are the one selecting the team,” a source revealed.

What interference means for players

Careers of football players are sometimes put on the line because of interference. In cases where the club has signed a player without the approval of the coach, players who are sometimes working their socks off in training may not get in the team ahead of someone who was signed by the chairman, or one of the officials in management. It’s understood that bonus structures at times play a role in the selection of the team too. According to information provided to the crew, there are players who get a bonus based on the number of minutes they play. To avoid paying a bonus at times, club chairmen or management influence the coach not to play those individuals, Soccer Laduma understands.

Generally, though, interference can have a negative effect on the careers of players, as one of the Siya sources revealed.

“These days, owners say they can’t let their teams go down. I think the problem these days is the chairmen who think they are coaches. You can’t be like Mr Jomo (Sono). He played football. The chairmen want to pick the team and they were not even at training the whole week. There are guys who work hard in training week in and out, but on matchday, you won’t even see them on the bench, but they are quality players. You wonder how they pick a team when they were not even at training. I’ve seen where sometimes the substitutions come from the top, saying who should be taken out. It’s not fair to the players who work hard at training.”