The coaching merry-go-round in football is detrimental to progress and John Maduka's return to Royal AM is an example of that.
Since returning to Thwihli Thwahla, Maduka has led the team to an unbeaten run of five matches.
The KwaZulu-Natal outfit has won two and drawn two matches in the league and has won in the Nedbank Cup to go through to the Last 16.
But why was the Malawian was allowed to leave the club in the first place, after leading the team to third place finish last season?
The Sinky Mnisi Saga
When Maduka shockingly parted ways with Royal AM in June last year to join Maritzburg United, Sinky Mnisi was still with the Shauwn Mkhize-owned club as the CEO.
Reports at the time suggested that Mkhize had been out of the country when Maduka resigned and that she was allegedly displeased that the mentor had been allowed to leave.
Subsequently, Mnisi was placed on 'special leave' before he finally decided to quit the club in January this year.
The Good
It is good that PSL clubs do give opportunities to former footballers to become coaches after their playing days and that should be commended.
Benni McCarthy is a success story of a PSL product.
The former Bafana Bafana striker is flying the South African flag at Manchester United after he was given his big break in coaching at Cape Town City before he went on to coach AmaZulu and did well.
Maduka and his colleagues could be next in making a name for themselves in the PSL, given a chance and with clubs showing confidence in them.
The Bad
Frequent coaching changes make the mockery of the league and it not good for sponsors and the world.
Experienced former Black Leopards coach Walter 'Mr Fitness' Rautmann knows very well about the PSL's coaching merry-go-round, having been in and out of clubs in his long career.
"Let me tell you one thing, it can't always be the coaches (who have a problem), it's the management in some cases. 90% of the time it's the management of these teams who are at fault," said Rautmann.
"When I went to Black Leopards, the coaches who were there before me told me that the management of the club likes to interfere with the job of coaches. The owner told them who to play and who not to play. How can you be the coach if the owner is going to interfere with team selection?
"They would bring the witchdoctors and do all sorts of things. It's ridiculous. I was the only coach who never listened to the owner when he tried to interfere with my job. I saved Leopards from relegation because I didn't listen to the owner when he tried to interfere. When he tried to phone me about the team, I told him 'Go to hell! It's not your job, it's my job. I'm the coach.' We played Jomo Cosmos in a game that was televised, and it was in Venda. At half-time, Cosmos was leading 1-0 and (David) Thidiela (Leopards' boss), came to the changeroom and started attacking me on why I didn't field this player and that player. I told him to go to hell. I would not allow him to tell me who to play and who not to play.
"I beat Cosmos 3-1 and after the game Thidiela wanted to come and hug me and I told him in front of television to go to hell. The following Monday he sent me a letter advising that I was suspended for not respecting him. I left the club, and guess what, they got relegated. He lost millions. That's why so many teams in the PSL are suffering, owners interfere with the coaches' jobs. It is a big problem in our soccer and sometimes they even want to sit on the bench. You never see it overseas where an owner is interfering with the coach's job. The owner is there only to pay the coach and the players. It's a South African problem because even at big clubs like Chiefs and Pirates, it's the same story sometimes. It's very difficult for the coaches here," said Rautmann.
The Ugly
In 2012, Black Leopards represented Mzansi in CAF Confederation Cup after the team played in the final of the Nedbank Cup the previous season.
At the end of the 2020/21 season, the Limpopo outfit was relegated to Mzansi's second tier.
Over the years, Leopards has been one of the clubs that have constantly changed coaches and their demise has been attributed to that.
Rautmann says, "I see Black Leopards are losing every week and it's a shame for the club. When I coached the team, I managed to beat the big teams, your Pirates, Chiefs, Moroka Swallows and everybody. We always had a full stadium in Venda for every game we played there. It will be sad for South African football if they get relegated because that team has such a huge following. I enjoyed myself at the club and people still call me the 'Lion of the North' because of my working for the club. I never lost a game in Thohoyandou. I saved Leopards from relegation. They called me with nine games to go and nobody gave me a chance, but I won all the games to move the team from the bottom of the log. If they go out of the league like Cosmos did, it will be bad for football."
Football these days is a multimillion-rand business and club owners are under enormous pressure to keep their teams' topflight statuses.
A Premiership status these days could be worth anything from around R80 million or more, while one can get a second-tier status for around R20 million, at least.
While the club owners' cautious approach against losing millions on their investments is understandable, it shouldn't come at the expense of the coaches' reputations.
The chopping and changing of coaches paint a bad picture about the professionalism of PSL clubs.
Should a club like Chippa United which is famous for frequent coaching changes learn from the story of Leopards and others? Let us know in the comments below!
