Fans must grow up
COACHING must be the most taxing and certainly most hazardous job in sport, yet there seems no shortage of ambitious men ready to take up these highly pressured posts.
One problem is that club owners too often trumpet their appointments, elevating the new man to almost messianic status, irrespective of the cards stacked against him.
Then when the team fails – as it inevitably must – the first one to go is the coach, at club or national level.
Three of South Africa’s top coaches have been in the firing line in recent weeks – Heyneke Meyer, Gordon Igesund and Pitso Mosimane. All have been much pilloried for their teams’ poor run.
Much has been said about the rugby coach, so for the purposes of this editorial we turn our attention to soccer.
SuperSport United’s Igesund, considered the country’s most successful club coach, faced a barrage of accusations from supporters clamouring for his exit.
Then a win in the Telkom Knockout against Polokwane City gave him some breathing space.
Igesund sniped at his detractors, including in the media, saying criticism against him was exaggerated.
Losing three games in a row is not such a big deal, he says, it often happens in Europe.
He is positive the former Premier League champions will bounce back. “I know what I am doing, and there are signs of that.”
Mosimane is in a similar boat at Sundowns after the Pretoria-based side has under-performed worryingly. With the financial muscle of billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe, expectations are high for the team to be front-runners in the league championship, not languishing in seventh place on the table.
Mosimane also has high aspirations and the current run of form and attitude of supporters has been disconcerting. He admitted being under stress this season – and at times doing dugout duty with the police on standby nearby.
Fortunately the win over Jomo Cosmos saw a sea change in the attitude of supporters and they are now backing the coach.
Clubs should not give in to barrages of abuse from fickle and impatient fans, even if it gives rise to boorishness.
But unfortunately too many succumb and opt to sack the coach, and only after that look at the poor performance of their socalled stars.
The Eastern Cape-based club Chippa United has, for example, the unenviable history of appointing 10 coaches in three years. Mind-boggling.
It is high time that a refreshing maturity characterises the beautiful game – on the field and off it.