Show Rowe the door or what, readers respond

| Friday May 30, 2008 00:00

 

I am a die-hard Zebras' fan and very patriotic to my beloved country of birth. My eyes are always filled with tears every time I think of our glory days. Our issue is simple yet if not addressed well it is a hard nut to crack. The question is: has national coach (Colwyn Rowe) so far met his mandate? If not, tough luck! Show him the door and bring in someone else. Ours is not a nursery school. Why should we spend more than we can?

Sacking an under performing coach is not a new thing within the soccer fraternity, be it professional or amateur. I still believe that with the pool of players we have, the Zebras can at least qualify for the African Cup of Nations. Gone are the days when we used to be called the 'Whipping boys' of Africa.

I am totally against the way we conduct our friendlies, I wonder if BFA and the coach know what they want to achieve when arranging such friendly matches. Same teams each and every year (Botswana vs Zimbabwe /Zambia / Namibia / sometimes South Africa / Lesotho /Swaziland or local select). Don't you think we have achieved what we wanted after playing so many games with the latter?

I suspect poor budgeting by those in authority because the money is said to be the major obstacle. Let us also change the way we select our squad. Players should be selected on their current form not number of caps or popularity.

Of course, experience matters but what we need is the quality of performance at a given time (90mins). This past season we had numerous players in top form but only five percent were picked. The question is: Is Rowe doing his job properly and who ensures that he carries his duties as prescribed? The coach should face the heat if he is not doing his job. We also need transparency when it comes to selection of best 22 in Botswana.

Lastly, I believe we are down but not out. My wish is for the BFA to consider recalling the Yugoslav, Veselin Jelusic. This man has our happiness. I can assure you by 2010 Botswana will make history.

Mpho Kadisa (USA)

Editor's Note: I tend to agree with you that there are several players who have been in-form but have not been picked. This is something which has turned most Batswana against Rowe. The Briton has been a disappointment and it is up to the BFA to ensure he does his job to the satisfaction of everyone. On the issue of friendly games, BFA's argument is that it is not always easy to get games against tougher opponents like Nigeria. As a result, they are compelled to settle for countries like Swaziland and Lesotho. 

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Fire Rowe and bring back Veselin
Brian Mosenene

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As already stated by the majority of Batswana, for the national team performance to improve, first we need to professionalise the Premier League and make sure that players get decent salaries from football. Secondly, we need to hire a recognised national coach - not a junior coach - to take the national team forward.
Concerned Citizen

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I strongly feel Rowe should go. I think between Rowe and Veselin the better coach still remains our much celebrated Major David Bright. The two gentlemen should just go. BFA should do the honourable thing of luring back Bright with a very good package. I think he has become even more expensive after his impressive record at Santos in South Africa.

But yes he is very valuable. Up to now the nation still needs to see what Veselin's duties are, who pays for his upkeep and the BFA owes us a performance report on whatever task he has been assigned. I think the BFA takes the nation for granted.
Concerned Citizen

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There's no way Zebras' performance can improve when Colwyn is around, NEVER!!!! Re a go lela hela till BFA e dira sengwe (We are going to suffer until BFA does something)! Let lekgoa le le tsamae (let Rowe go), we are tired of watching boring games. Instead of the Zebras improving they are sinking deeper in the sand. Book Rowe the next flight to London and you'll see Batswana back in a packed National Stadium cheering the boys.
Keketso Bonno

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I suggest that Rowe must 'be shown the door'' with immediate effect. The situation needs prompt attention and the solution is to send Rowe back, replace him with someone who has coached national teams before. Furthermore, the team's performance must have improved from where he found it. This is the national team, Tshepo. The nation has spoken in several forums. Don't we have capable officers in the BFA who can heed the nation's call and respond swiftly? Don't they see that stern action needs to be taken?
Obolokile Kooneeng

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After reading all the articles about Rowe and the national team, I vividly remember that I wrote to the papers about the blunder they (BFA) were making by giving an inexperienced person the responsibilities of a rising team in Botswana, especially someone who doesn't have the experience of semi-professional football structures like ours.

By then my contention was that why don't they hire Stanley Tshosane and Major David Bright to lead the national team. Remember the late Banks Panene was there by then for the Under-23. From then on Rowe has vindicated me, he lost with huge margins, he fails to read the game, and his substitutions leave much to be desired.

Rowe must learn that next football game has got nothing to do with the last one. For him to keep on blowing his trumpet about Egypt is nonsense because he found that team there, the team had already drawn with the likes of Morocco and Libya if am not mistaken. He needs to stand up and do something for himself and he needs to blend the Under-23 players into the national team like all the countries are doing. For now things have gone from bad to worse and I think the best Phillip Makgalemele and Tosh Kgotlele can do is to tell Rowe to leave and ask Veselin to rescue the Zebras. The players are motivated by sponsorship and the President (Ian Khama) is considering something for them, the players and the fans' problem is Rowe. To say Zebras are not doing well because Rowe does not have an assistant is hogwash. I say so because there were times when Vesco didn't have an assistant but was able to deliver the goods.
 Thuso Rakesiilwe

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Rowe must be thanked for trying (for example drawing with Egypt) and replaced forthwith. Whoever succeeds him should try to bring in as many of the Under-23 players as possible, especially at the back where Ndiyapo (Letsholathebe) and Ernest (Amos) are clearly struggling. Ndiyapo is a good player, but no one really knows whether or not he was getting game time in the USA. What is the standard of this so-called MSL league like? We do not know. The problem with Rowe is that, besides his inability to read the game, he has continued to use Jomo Moatlhaping who is evidently struggling at club level.
Alex Ramphaleng

Editor's Note: Ndiyapo is back in the Premier League and has featured for Police XI towards the end of the season. I agree with you that it's killing us for Rowe to continue using Moatlhaping while he is struggling with form and has not been a regular at Rollers.

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Rowe is finished. He is not going to bring anymore glory to Botswana and now many Batswana do not want to talk about football back home more especially Batswana living abroad because even Sudan guys are laughing at us as their team is doing better in African competition. Sudan can beat Botswana more than what Zambia's third string team did to us...we are proud of Sudan guys than Botswana (Zebras). There is war in Sudan but soccer brings peace for some weeks... Ivory Coast will destroy Rowe's team.Show the British guy the door, Ghana sacked their coach for not winning the Nations Cup but why not fire someone who cannot win COSAFA and take us at least to Nations Cup? Mozambique, too, will beat us. We are going to have at least a point from a draw against Madagascar over the weekend and we will lose all the games. Malaysia, too, is playing better than the Zebras. Rowe could be sacked on the first game in Asian Football.
Macdonald Sibs Matlhodi

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Tshepo, I'm not surprised with the fact that Colwyn Rowe is failing to improve the performance of our national team. By the time he was employed by BFA, they knew he had never coached a senior national team before. The way our team is performing shows that we won't qualify for the next AFCON/World Cup unless we believe by seeing like Thomas. BFA should be looking for an experienced coach before the qualifying games start and reserve Rowe as an assistant coach.
Kabo Boifang

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As far as I'm concerned, I do not see The Zebras rising from the doldrums as long as we still have the current coach. We need as a matter of urgency to bring in Mike Sithole as a head coach assisted by Stan Tshosane. Sithole has done it all, look how he did with Centre Chiefs and GU. Is there any reason why we should be struggling while we have such good people around? By the way the P62, 000 that is given to this man should be shared amongst these coaches and they can still do a better job.

The reason for Stan is that he knows the local players well while Sithole is such a great tactician. I suggest these two gentlemen because we cannot get Bright back as he undoubtedly has a lucrative contract with a brighter feature in South Africa. I would like to further emphasizse that there is no another tomorrow we need new coaches otherwise some of us will still stay home and watch European and SA soccer because we get value for our money. I'm one of those fans who never for any, reason missed out on Zebras games but as it is now, one finds no reason to bother. What is most frustrating is the fact that last year's Under-23 team players are nowhere to be seen. With due respect, some of the senior national team players are tired while others' commitment is questionable. Therefore, why waste time. Would Mr Rowe please leave us in peace.Ramatudu