I’m not going to drop any ball

In football, as in life, change is inevitable. More so for a coach, as at times your next destination is informed by the direction of the wind. And so after serving as an assistant coach at Sekhukhune United, young mentor Thabo Senong has now been redeployed to Head of Development at the ambitious side. Not that he would feel out of place in this role, having spent seven years as a junior national team coach at SAFA, followed by a stint as Lesotho senior national team head coach. Soccer Laduma’s Delmain Faver caught up with the 42-year-old coach as he talks about how Babina Noko plan to bounce back after their lukewarm start to a season where so much was expected of them, what he learnt from recently released Kaitano Tembo, why he considers himself a ‘three-inand one’… more.

Delmain Faver: Coach, at the beginning of the season, Sekhukhune United management recruited some big names. It must have been satisfying to see the club giving the technical team the necessary tools that you need for a shot at an even better season than the last one before.

Thabo Senong:

I think we obviously recruited very well this season. We brought in some experienced players from different clubs if you look at the likes of (Victor) Letsoalo, (Tshegofatso) Mabasa, (Daniel) Cardoso, (Linda) Mntambo, and also brought a couple of young ones, like Lesego Sebetlela from La Masia, Elias Mokwana from Platinum City Rovers. The experienced guys bring professionalism because they are seasoned campaigners and they also bring the needed quality, which, in my opinion, is something they’ve been giving us. We have just been unlucky in terms of some matches that we could have won and we drew. Some matches we could have drawn we lost, you know. But then it’s not even halfway through the season, so we’re still going to achieve the mandate, in my opinion, of being in a very respectable position, +-Top Eight. The league is a marathon. I have no doubt that the type of players we have brought in are definitely going to help us because they are gelling, they are starting to understand each other very well, the team cohesion is getting better each day, you know. So, I think we are on the right track and we have just recruited a new head coach and who knows the league very well. He also has a lot of good skills and qualities and has done well, especially at AmaZulu FC because he left them when they were going to cup semis. I think we are on the right track and we don’t even think relegation, we just want to improve our log position, so if we came out 11th last season, why not push for number eight or number seven? I still think it’s possible.

DF: You speak about the ‘new coach’, but we can’t not talk about the ‘old coach’, Kaitano Tembo. What was it like for you to see him go?

TS: It wasn’t good at all to lose coach Kaitano because he’s a technician who has worked with top coaches and he has also worked in top structures like SuperSport (United), so he added a lot of value in our club. He was a 24-hour professional who brought a lot of discipline in our team and brought a lot of tactical knowledge in terms of teaching players certain principles out of possession and in it. Myself as an assistant coach, I benefitted and learnt a lot from him, but it’s the nature of the game. Sometimes you need luck in this game and, as I said earlier, there are matches where we drew that we could have won and there are matches that we lost that we could have drawn. Sometimes you need luck in order to get the result that you desire, but in terms of performance, there are a lot of positives in our team. The psychology and the mentality of the players, you still have to look deeper in it because if you look at fully experienced teams in the league, we managed to compete and pick up results and some matches where we were supposed to have collected (maximum) points, we either drew or lost those matches. That shows a lot about the psychology of some individuals in the team and the mentality of the entire group as a whole. So, these are the things that we sat down as a club, with management and the technical team, to make sure that we better them, we improve them and then we make sure that we have a very strong second round.

DF: Is that the reason why the club has decided to return a bit earlier from the break, on 15 November to be exact?

TS:

We just felt that our club is surrounded by a lot of professionals in the coaching staff and also in the management, and one thing that characterizes our club is hard work and commitment, so we don’t really want to spend a lot of energy being out of the office and being off work. So, we can say that we saw it’s important that we stay close to each other, we stay together, we try to identify, find solutions going forward. Of course, another factor is bringing a new head coach… we just felt that it’s fair that he comes in to spend more time with the players so that he can just get some information in terms of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the team in terms of the quality and the shortcomings of some individuals within the team. It’s actually good that we started as early as possible because with all the distractions that we have in our society, sometimes we cannot rely on some players as athletes to give you maximum discipline when they are off the pitch for three weeks, so that’s why we felt that it’s important that we stay together to help each other so that you can try and help some individuals. Also, so that we can start getting to build the chemistry and cohesion amongst the team and so that we can actually be fit again because the World Cup break is going to affect a lot of teams, in my opinion, because it’s similar to a major transition period as compared to a minor transition period. But it almost looks like an off-season in a way which is not off-season. We’re still in the middle of the season, so we just felt that it’s important that we respect this mid-season break and try to create a mid-season preparation period to pass the physical basis again, to pass the tactical base again from the new coach and also to work on the psychology and the mentality. Scoring has been a bit of a challenge – we’re playing well, but we’re not finishing our chances. We’re creating chances and we’re not converting them. So, I think we are on the right track as the management and the technical team by making sure that we come (back) as early as possible to make sure that we continue to work on our team.

DF: You’ve now been appointed the club’s Head Of Development. It seems you are back inside your natural habitat…

TS:

No, absolutely, and when I joined the club, we needed to make sure that we achieve our first target, which is staying in the league. This is our second season and we’re still gonna make sure that we stay in the league. However, it is not a secret that our club does not have a fully functioning youth structure. We don’t have any U15s, we don’t have U17s, even U19s, and you know that globally in football, it’s important that you try to build your own homegrown players because football is now not just a sport, but it’s also integrated within business principles. So, within the vision of any club, you also have to have a business model whereby you try to build your own homegrown players so that you can be able to promote them and then save funds as far as transfers are concerned and maybe also make transfers as far as the external transfers are concerned. I’m very excited with this project. I was very happy when I was given this role obviously because if you look at someone like me, my profile, I’ve always been a developer, so if there’s anything that I’m extremely passionate and knowledgeable about, it’s developing people, it’s developing footballers. So, for me to go down into that role, it’s obviously to develop the coaches. We have the likes of Lizo Mjempu, former Ajax (Cape Town) and Orlando Pirates left back, who is the head coach of our ABC Motsepe League side, and then we also have Morgan Gould, the head coach of our DDC (DStv Diski Challenge) team. We’re setting up our U17 team next year and we need to get a coach as soon as possible. So, it’s a beautiful project where I have to look at the coaches, improve the coach education department of our club, and also work on recruiting very young players and design a methodology to improve them so that they can benefit our first team going forward. So, it’s a good project, I’m looking forward to it and with the support and the backing of the management and my colleagues in the youth department, I don’t see us failing but I see us

developing and producing players going forward.

“He was a 24-hour professional who brought a lot of discipline.”

DF: We know that development is your forte and it’s the task that you’ve been assigned to for the foreseeable future. But is there, somewhere, deep in the recesses of Thabo Senong’s heart, any ambition of becoming a head coach of a topflight club?

TS:

It’s always hard to predict the future, but in my coach education pathway, I’ve always tried to upskill myself in the three components of coaching, which is coach education, to be an instructor, which I am now – a FIFA and CAF instructor – and also a youth coach and also a professional coach because I have a UEFA Level 3 Pro Licence and the CAF A Licence. I always look up to Arsene Wenger because I always see him as a three-in-one. If he does coach education, he excels; if he does youth developing, he excels and if he does professional coaching like he used to do at Arsenal, he excels. So, that’s how I view myself, I see myself as a threein-one, someone who can equally become a successful youth developer, a professional coach or even a coaching instructor. So, it depends on the future assignments and the future opportunities that will be given. I’m sure I’m flexible and then I will adapt to any role given, but for now, all my energy is gonna be put in this new role Head Of Development and I’m not going to drop any ball because obviously I’m grateful to the management of the club for seeing my importance in the club, firstly, and for also seeing my importance in having the ability to develop future players for the club and eventually for the country. I’m looking forward to this project at the moment and I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I’ve always been an adapter. I’m somebody who can adapt to any assignment, any challenge and any environment because I’m a very flexible coach.

“I always look up to Arsene Wenger because I always see him as a three-inone.”