Kaizer Chiefs are on a mission to take a leaf out of Mamelodi Sundowns' scouting books, following the appointment of Thembela Maliwa as Head of Scouting and Recruitment.
Sundowns have raised the standard, not only in the country, but in Africa, in the quality of players they have been able to sign.
Masandawana's scouting department has received praise for not settling to the usual transfer markets in the country or on the continent but have put considerable efforts in tapping into the South American market and have in recent years also extended their transfer business to Europe.
The Tshwane giants' scouting department has its own function, in line with the club's technical blueprint and they don't necessarily sign players based on who is the coach, particularly from the overseas market.
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Chiefs appear to have acceded that they need such a scouting department in their ranks, to eliminate the error and pressure in coaches having to do their own scouting when they are brought to the club.
The Glamour Boys did not look further for such a technician, to spearhead their Scouting and Recruitment, than Maliwa, who spent the previous seven years at the Brazilians.
'Tera', as the scout is affectionately known, has explained why there's always a clash of player characters and personalities at a club that does not have a scouting department.
"Coaches forward slash scouts in the professional level, I don't think it has worked out very well. Sometimes when a coach [goes on to] scout a player, when he looks at the player, he looks at the player according to his philosophy, not according to the club's philosophy," Maliwa said on Radio 2000.
"And sometimes there's a clash, because when you tend to do that, I'm not saying coaches are wrong to identify players, but when you give that to coaches to run the scouting, coaches come and go. So if he went and signed six players that are good for his philosophy, two years later he's gone and another coach feels those players are not fitting his philosophy. It's 50/50 when you're looking for a player, it should be your philosophy and the club's philosophy.
"Scouting [department] is very important. I'm glad Mamelodi Sundowns believed much in scouting, where I started at Ajax, we believed much in scouting and if you look at how we developed players. All the clubs need to take that leap, in terms of, I know there's no money but scouting is very important," Maliwa added.
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There has been a wonder why Chiefs buy players who are good at their previous clubs but don't perform according to expectations at the Soweto giants.
It goes back to a clash of philosophies and the changing of coaches, where players were bought to suit particular coaches instead of the team Amakhosi.
"I am here to try to take the club to another level in terms of scouting and recruitment. My plan is to identify and bring in the players that will take Amakhosi back to the glory days," Maliwa said via the club's official website.
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