There is a saying in coaching that goes, "coaches live and die by their decisions" even when those decisions are not always popular with the fans. I can imagine the meltdown Manchester United's interim coach Ralf Rangnick would have been faced with if his decision to haul off star duo Paul Pogba and later Cristiano Ronaldo had backfired when his side were drawing level at two-all against Leeds this past Sunday, bringing on the less-fancied Fred and Anthony Elanga.
The coach's gamble paid off as the Red Devils went on to win 4-2, with both players finding the back of the net, ultimately proving that sometimes the tough choices are not always the popular ones.
I too had to make a tough decision whilst I was the head coach of Orlando Pirates.
I had spent four great years at Manning Rangers where I managed to win the inaugural Premier Soccer League title in the 1996/1997 season, lead them to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League, and continued to keep them in title contention.
Thereafter, Orlando Pirates, who had not won the league in seven years, came knocking for my services and despite the magnitude of the task ahead of me, I accepted the challenge of waking up the sleeping Soweto giants.
I remember my first training session with the team. I looked at the galaxy of stars I had at my disposal which was unbelievable. Jerry Sikhosana, Denis Lota, Pollen Ndlanya, Brenden Silent, Gerald Raphalele, Thabo Mngomeni, the list of renowned international stars rolled off the tongue as I browsed through each player, one after the other I immediately knew that this would be a very challenging season for me as important decisions regarding my team selection would have to be made on a weekly basis.
Before the session was about to start, I saw a player on the other side of the field, dressed in our training kit, while reading a Soccer Laduma and I asked the guys, "who is that?" They then told me it was Steve Lekoelea, arguably the most naturally skilled player in the league at the time. I called Steve over and he said, "Just wait, I'll be there as soon as I was done reading my paper."
A few of the senior players were looking at me earnestly, waiting to see how I would react to Steve's behaviour – it was something they had grown used to. I knew then my reaction with the club's star player would set the precedent for how the rest of our season would go.
When he did eventually make his way over, I was honest with Steve. In front of his teammates, I told him, "I don't care who you are, but training starts at the same time for all players. I find it disrespectful to your teammates that you are reading a paper while they are preparing for the new season." I also made a decision that day that Steve Lekoelea would not form any part of my plans until he changed his attitude.
At the time, the country was swooning over him, he had a few Kwaito songs written about him, so ostracising the darling of the Orlando Pirates faithful could have been detrimental to me before my season even began – but the important thing is that I gained the respect of the group by making that tough decision. Senior players came up to me and commended me for putting my foot down.
If anything, my decision not to allow Lekoelea to be part of the squad and train on his own set the precedent for the rest of the season. After 10 matches of the 2000/01 season, sitting on top of the league we had lost just once.
We had opened a sizeable lead at the top of the table. The players were responding well to my methods. We were playing good football and despite one of the star players not being in the squad, the fans were happy. It was at this point, Lekoelea came to my office and told me "Coach, I want to be part of the team again," to which I agreed. He was an amazing talent who had come to his senses and realized that his theatrics were causing more harm than good and that he was letting his teammates down.
I opted for a moderate approach in phasing him back into the team, five minutes here and 10 minutes there. He ended up playing considerably more in the last seven games or so. We went on the lift the PSL trophy that season, beating Kaizer Chiefs by a single point. It was the second of my four PSL titles. We also won the BP Top 8 and finished runners up in the Rothmans cup.
None of it would have been possible though had I not taken a tough decision on my first day, where I sacrificed one player for the greater good of the group.
Before signing off this week, please let me know if you're enjoying the stories and if there are any other stories you would like to hear about. Also, feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them in my next column.
Next week I will touch on the last few games of that 2000/2001 season including the training ground incident where a number of supporters entered the training venue and physically attacked me.
That's it for this week. Make sure you head to www.soccer6.co.za for soccer Tips and Pools.
Yours in football.
Coach Gordon Igesund
