Former Orlando Pirates star Daine Klate has revealed how spending a weekend with South African football legend Benni McCarthy inspired him to pursue a career in coaching.
Klate is one of the most successful and loved players in the Premier Soccer League’s history.
The 39-year-old former Bafana Bafana winger retired in 2019 with an impressive six DStv Premiership league titles with SuperSport United (3), Pirates (2) and Bidvest Wits.
He also won at least nine domestic trophies, five coming during his tenure with the Sea Robbers.
Despite his massive success, Klate had no ambitions of sitting in the dugout and imparting some of his knowledge to upcoming stars after hanging his boots.
Speaking to another former Pirates midfielder Michael Morton in his podcast, Klate disclosed it was only after spending time with McCarthy in Scotland that he changed his mind about coaching.
McCarthy recently parted ways with Manchester United where he served as the forwards coach.
“I don’t think so (that I wanted to become a coach), I think when we are playing, we are just fully focused on that,” Klate told Morton.
“I think when I enrolled for the UEFA License, Benni inspired me. It was actually in December, and I was in Scotland, visiting for a weekend and he was busy doing the online work and what needed to be submitted.
“I sat with him and went through it, and I said ‘Well, if this is what coaching is about and this how you learn to become a coach,’ it kind of interests me,” he said.
“When I returned from that trip and finished my (playing) career, I immediately jumped into the UEFA B License and ja, as they say, everything is history.
“I think doing the UEFA B licence with the likes of Luis Garcia and those other guys who have played in the EPL and Champions League, sharing a room with them, information and learning from them about coaching was fantastic for me,” Klate added.
“I thought this was the space I’m going to find myself in, this is what I’m going to do.”
Klate, currently unattached, has quickly enjoyed a bit of success as a mentor and learned how sometimes coaching can be a thankless job.
He helped Chippa United juniors finish in the top four of the DStv Diski Challenge for the first time and led them to the DStv Diski Shield semi-finals.
That earned him a promotion to the senior Chilli Boys hot seat and was sacked for playing “negative football” against tough-to-beat Mamelodi Sundowns after seven league games in 2022.
Klate also learnt that not everything is fair and just in football during his coaching stint with La Masia, which he parted with in April, in the Motsepe Foundation Championship where they normally say ‘it’s a dog-eat-dog’ league.
