Veteran coach Dan Malesela raised eyebrows with his recent criticism of Mamelodi Sundowns' decision to appoint Romain Folz as an assistant coach.
This came not long after the departure of head coach Rulani Mokwena and his assistant, Michael Loftman, leading to Folz’s appointment as an aide to Manqoba Mngqithi.
During a recent celebratory event for Pitso Mosimane at FNB Stadium, Malesela openly questioned the choice of the young Frenchman, suggesting it undermined the development of local coaching talent.
“I’m trying to be careful because it may sound like I wanted the job for myself, not really. But it’s a place I would go to. Yes, it’s a place I would go to,” Malesela explained to journalists.
His main concern was the impact on local coaches, pointing out that assistants in South Africa typically do not have the final say in team decisions.
“I was just raising my concerns in terms of getting somebody from outside to be assistant, you know. Because assistants in my case and in the case in the South African scenario, don’t have the final say.
“Why have a foreigner who does not have the final say? That’s all I was worried about,” Malesela elaborated.
Malesela further expressed his apprehension about the long-term development of South African coaches.
“I’m worried about the succession rate we must have in the country in terms of coaches and all of that, because it looks like we are definitely not worried about our own and we are not trying to improve our own. So that was my biggest worry,” he said.
The Premiership is set to kick off on September 14 with an exciting Tshwane derby between Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
