Komphela: Do not take eye off the ball
CELTIC COACH: NO ACCOLADES WITHOUT TEAMWORK
Bloemfontein Celtic coach Steve Komphela hopes his Absa Premiership Coachof-the-Month accolade as well as defender Alfred Ndengane’s Player-of-the-Month award won’t make them forget about the job at hand.
Komphela (above) was voted as the best coach for August after steering his team to three wins and one draw in their first four games of the 2018/2019 season, while Ndengane’s performance in Celtic’s back four also didn’t go unnoticed.
“Acknowledge and appreciate the acknowledgement, but again, there can never be individual accolades without great teamwork. Had it not been for the support staff, administration and the players, I don’t think I would be representing them like this, it could have been someone else.
“The only thing one has to be careful and conscious about is that at the back of appreciation and recognition, you still need to be on your toes and keep working,” said Komphela, whose side are currently tied at the top of the table after their 1-0 win at Black Leopards on Sunday.
“Sometimes when you’re too familiar you become too comfortable and at the back of comfort, you become complacent and mediocre. I hope this recognition won’t bring an element of too much comfort whereby we won’t take our jobs seriously again.”
Komphela went on to explain that his players and the rest of staff have been very supportive of the players, wanting to see the club do well, even when they went through difficult times, whereby at some point it was rumoured the club was about sold and relocated to Kimberley.
“But the reaction is modesty again, appreciate, but it doesn’t belong to an individual. It is the efforts, we sincerely appreciate this and we also remain very conscious. The only way to consistently have the will to win, there must be the will to prepare.
“Inasmuch as our preparations had problems here and there, there was that willingness, commitment, the control and focus to say that we want to achieve. And it was not only I, but the players, support staff, John Maduka, Lehlonolo Seema, the manager and everybody at Celtic.”